Climate change footprint in the Mancha húmeda biosphere reserve

Abstract

The Mancha Húmeda Biosphere Reserve (MHBR) is the widest inland steppe wetlands area of the Iberian Peninsula; this wetland district sums up to 30.000 ha of aquatic ecosystems, with a high surface density and physiographic and ecological diversity. The MHBR is a hot spot for biological conservation, resulting in a variety of natural reserves, from international scope, i.e. Ramsar Sites of Internatonal Importance, and Sites of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI) and Special Protection Areas for Wild Birds (SPA) of the Natura 2000 Network of the EU, to national scope, i.e. the National Park of Tablas de Daimiel, and even regional scope, i.e. a number of Natural Reserves, Microrreserves, and Geological Monuments. At the scale of species and communities, the MHBR hosts also many endemisms and other species with limited geographic distribution, rare species and many habitats included in the Habitats Directive of the EU. Aquatic ecosystems are distinctive elements of the MHBR. Most of them are temporary and its hydroperiod is very variable as a result of its Mediterranean, continental, semiarid climate. Consequently, we hypothesize that the MHBR is very sensitive to global change. Regarding aquatic ecosystems, rainfall variation, temperature rise and climate instability would be already causing disturbances in their natural dynamics, e.g. modifications of hydrogeochemical processes, food webs, and populations). On the basis of results of limnological monitoring in the later 30 years in wetlands, floodplains and reservoirs of the MHBR, this work intends to reveal whether climate change is significantly affecting the natural dynamics of these aquatic ecosystems, rather than other local and regional impacts, such as variations in water quality and quantity because of wastewater inputs.