Fish die-offs are concurrent with thermal extremes in north temperate lakes

Till, Aaron; Rypel, Andrew L.; Bray, Andrew; Fey, Samuel B.

doi:10.1038/s41558-019-0520-y

Cited by 87 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 37 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We suggest that most pronounced ecosystem changes will occur in lakes that will experience hypoxic conditions for the first time and in lakes where the duration of hypoxia will be extended as a response to the projected prolongation in stratification. Generally, it is expected that the projected prolongation in stratification will result in the deoxygenation of productive lakes 34 , where, in the worst case, the occurrence of fish die-off events will increase 35 . Anoxic conditions at the sediment–water interface have the potential to result in substantial nutrient leakage from sediments 34 and to have subsequent effects on nutrient mineralization.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenological shifts in lake stratification under climate change

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

One of the most important physical characteristics driving lifecycle events in lakes is stratification. Already subtle variations in the timing of stratification onset and break-up (phenology) are known to have major ecological effects, mainly by determining the availability of light, nutrients, carbon and oxygen to organisms. Despite its ecological importance, historic and future global changes in stratification phenology are unknown. Here, we used a lake-climate model ensemble and long-term observational data, to investigate changes in lake stratification phenology across the Northern Hemisphere from 1901 to 2099. Under the high-greenhouse-gas-emission scenario, stratification will begin 22.0 ± 7.0 days earlier and end 11.3 ± 4.7 days later by the end of this century. It is very likely that this 33.3 ± 11.7 day prolongation in stratification will accelerate lake deoxygenation with subsequent effects on nutrient mineralization and phosphorus release from lake sediments. Further misalignment of lifecycle events, with possible irreversible changes for lake ecosystems, is also likely.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenological shifts in lake stratification under climate change

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…With global warming of worldwide concern, the impact of temperature on fisheries production is a rapidly growing area of research (Myers et al 2018;Till et al 2019). Temperature drives many biological processes in freshwater ecosystems because it influences metabolic rates and thus how efficiently an individual converts resources to energy and how much resource is required for survival (or maintenance), growth, and reproduction (Kitchell et al 1977;Hanson et al 1997;Savage et al 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species-specific preferences drive the differential effects of lake factors on fish production

Jarvis

McMeans

Giacomini

et al. 2020

Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As the global human population grows it remains a top priority for communities, managers, policymakers, and stakeholders to maintain healthy, sustainable, and productive fisheries under continued global change. Here we used a dataset consisting of fish and lake characteristics for 536 lakes across Ontario, Canada, to test whether multiple climate, human, and biological factors differentially affect fish production (i.e., population biomass per hectare per year). We tested the hypothesis that temperature is the key driver of fisheries production by testing for the effects of multiple factors on the production of three top-predatory fish species: cold-water lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush), cool-water walleye (Sander vitreus), and warm-water smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu). Using boosted regression tree (BRT) analyses we found that lake trout production was most influenced by the volume of hypolimnetic habitat, walleye production was related to other climatic variables, and smallmouth bass production was most influenced by sampling day of the year followed by Secchi depth. Our results suggest that current fish production models – that only include temperature and body size – may over-simplify important ecological complexities and thus misinform management decisions because species respond differently to environmental drivers.

show abstract

“…For example, there is increasing concern about the loss of cold-water fish species many of which are not only ecological engineers but also of economic importance, such as the salmonids 30 . Our results on climate change effects suggest that northern high latitude lake thermal regions, where salmonids thrive, will be particularly susceptible to future global warming 31 . This supports the recent demonstration using historical long-term records that there is already a widespread loss of ice from high latitude lakes in the northern hemisphere and that this is projected to increase in the future 18 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Global lake thermal regions shift under climate change

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Water temperature is critical for the ecology of lakes. However, the ability to predict its spatial and seasonal variation is constrained by the lack of a thermal classification system. Here we define lake thermal regions using objective analysis of seasonal surface temperature dynamics from satellite observations. Nine lake thermal regions are identified that mapped robustly and largely contiguously globally, even for small lakes. The regions differed from other global patterns, and so provide unique information. Using a lake model forced by 21 st century climate projections, we found that 12%, 27% and 66% of lakes will change to a lower latitude thermal region by 2080-2099 for low, medium and high greenhouse gas concentration trajectories (Representative Concentration Pathways 2.6, 6.0 and 8.5) respectively. Under the worst-case scenario, a 79% reduction in the number of lakes in the northernmost thermal region is projected. This thermal region framework can facilitate the global scaling of lake-research.

show abstract

Fish die-offs are concurrent with thermal extremes in north temperate lakes

Cited by 87 publications

References 37 publications

Phenological shifts in lake stratification under climate change

Phenological shifts in lake stratification under climate change

Species-specific preferences drive the differential effects of lake factors on fish production

Global lake thermal regions shift under climate change

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About