Spatiotemporal patterns of emergence phenology reveal complex species-specific responses to temperature in aquatic insects

Aim: Climate change is broadly affecting phenology, but species-­specific phenological response to temperature is not well understood. In streams, insect emergence has important ecosystem-l­evel consequences because emergent adults link aquatic and terrestrial food webs. We quantified emergence timing and duration (within-­population synchronicity) of insects among streams along a spatiotemporal gradient of mean water temperature in a montane basin to assess the sensitivity of these phenological traits to heat accumulation from mid-­winter through spring emergence periods.