Glacier park insect threatened by climate change

BILLINGS – Climate change is imperiling a rare aquatic insect found only in Glacier National Park, scientists said in a study that underscores how high-elevation species could be particularly vulnerable to global warming.

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey, Bucknell University and the University of Montana reported on the plight of the western glacier stonefly in the journal Freshwater Science.

The small stoneflies, first identified in 1963, live in streams fed by very cold water from the park’s glaciers in northwest Montana, lead author Joe Giersch said.

With those glaciers predicted to disappear by 2030, the stoneflies could go, too, Giersch said.

Researchers recently looked for the glacier stonefly in six streams that the insect historically had occupied. They found them in only one, plus two high-elevation alpine springs.

Giersch acknowledged the tiny insect’s plight is unlikely in itself to generate much concern from the general public. But he said it points to a larger problems with a suite of high-elevation insects in Glacier and offers some of the first evidence of the biological impacts of warming temperatures in the Northern Rockies.

“It brings up the question: What is the value of a species?” he said.

Other studies in Alaska and Europe have shown how stream communities have changed with warming temperatures as glaciers have receded. The USGS study is among the first to document those changes in the Rocky Mountains, Giersch said.

A pending petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeks protections for the western glacier stonefly under the Endangered Species Act.

If the stonefly is given protected status, it’s uncertain what measures could be taken to preserve the insect. There have been preliminary discussions among biologists about raising stoneflies in laboratories and seeding different streams with the species.

However, those streams also could dry up or get too warm for them to survive.