FiCli, the Fish and Climate Change Database, informs climate adaptation and management for freshwater fishes

Abstract

Inland fishes provide important ecosystem services to communities worldwide and are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Fish respond to climate change in diverse and nuanced ways, which creates challenges for practitioners of fish conservation, climate change adaptation, and management. Although climate change is known to affect fish globally, a comprehensive online, public database of how climate change has impacted inland fishes worldwide and adaptation or management practices that may address these impacts does not exist. We conducted an extensive, systematic primary literature review to identify peer-reviewed journal publications describing projected and documented examples of climate change impacts on inland fishes. From this standardized Fish and Climate Change database, FiCli (pronounced fick-lee), researchers and managers can query fish families, species, response types, or geographic locations to obtain summary information on inland fish responses to climate change and recommended management actions. the FiCli database is updatable and provides access to comprehensive published information to inform inland fish conservation and adaptation planning in a changing climate.

The combined effects of climate change and river fragmentation on the distribution of Andean Amazon fishes

“…Freshwater organisms (e.g., fishes) are considered particularly vulnerable to climate change. Among other things, because they have limited capacity to regulate body temperature and their dispersal ability is highly constrained by the structure of river networks (Krabbenhoft et al., 2020; Woodward, Perkins, & Brown, 2010). The hydrological network limits movements along river corridors and connected wetlands of fish species under warming conditions, potentially reducing the possibilities for these organisms to find new suitable climatic areas.…”

Twenty‐five essential research questions to inform the protection and restoration of freshwater biodiversity

“…The effects of climate change continue to have severe impacts on freshwater ecosystems despite considerable research into the topic (e.g. the Fish Climate Change Database https://ficli.shinyapps.io/database/; Krabbenhoft et al, 2020). It is essential that measures are used that enhance the resilience of freshwater systems to the effects of climate change (Huang et al, 2019).…”

Best Practices for Communicating Climate Science for Fisheries Professionals

“…Freshwater fishes are already among the most imperiled of biodiversity on the planet, and those residing in inland waters are particularly vulnerable to the effects of changing climate (Comte and Olden 2017; Krabbenhoft et al 2020). Elevated stream temperatures and alterations in flows will extirpate some species from their southern ranges (Luo et al 2013; Radchuk et al 2019).…”

“…Unmitigated climate change is predicted to reduce cold water stream habitat by 62% by the next century (EPA 2015). Species that can tolerate increased temperatures may still struggle due to food web alterations or reproductive failure as a response to more frequent and severe flood events (Woodward et al 2010; Krabbenhoft et al 2020). Concerns for these compounding effects led 110 aquatic scientific societies representing more than 80,000 scientists across the globe to issue a joint statement on climate change and the need for immediate action (available: https://bit.ly/3mtQFAr; Bonar et al 2021).…”