Potential Effects of Global Warming on Native Fishes of the Southern Great Plains and the Southwest

Matthews, William J.; Zimmerman, Earl G.

doi:10.1577/1548-8446(1990)015<0026:peogwo>2.0.co;2

Cited by 101 publications

(95 citation statements)

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“…We did not consider possible immigration of tropical or subtropical species currently outside or low in number inside the U.S. Many factors beyond the scope of our analysis will influence these movements, such as the availability of migration corridors (Matthews and Zimmerman 1990;Rahel et al 1996) or the rate of climate change. We also expect that where thermal conditions become favorable, other environmental conditions may be sufficiently unfavorable to prevent colonization.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of climate warming on fish thermal habitat in streams of the United States

Eaton

Scheller²

1996

Limnology & Oceanography

408

363

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The effects of climate warming on the thermal habitat of 57 species of fish of the U.S. were estimated using results for a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide that were predicted by the Canadian Climate Center general circulation model. Baseline water temperature conditions were calculated from data collected at 1,700 U.S. Geological Survey stream monitoring stations across the U.S. Water temperatures after predicted climate change were obtained by multiplying air temperature changes by 0.9, a factor based on several field studies, and adding them to baseline water temperatures at stations in corresponding grid cells. Results indicated that habitat for cold and cool water fish would be reduced by -5O%, and that this effect would be distributed throughout the existing range of these species. Habitat losses were greater among species with smaller initial distributions and in geographic regions with the greatest warming (e.g. the central Midwest). Results for warm water fish habitat were less certain because of the poor state of knowledge regarding their high and low temperature tolerances; however, the habitat of many species of this thermal guild likely will also be substantially reduced by climate warming, whereas the habitat of other species will be increased.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of climate warming on fish thermal habitat in streams of the United States

Eaton

Scheller²

1996

Limnology & Oceanography

408

363

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“…1). Stream fish communities in these basins contain declining endemic and threatened species because of fragmentation and flow alteration (Hoagstrom et al 2011), and are expected to undergo further declines brought on by climate change (Matthews and Zimmerman 1990). For this study, we focused on the Platte basin between the Wyoming-Nebraska border and the confluence with the Missouri River, the Kansas basin upstream of the confluence with the Missouri River, the Arkansas basin between Larkin, Kansas and Keystone Reservoir in Oklahoma, the Canadian basin between the panhandle of Texas and Eufaula Reservoir in Oklahoma, and the Red basin upstream of Lake Texoma in Oklahoma and Texas.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Fragmentation and dewatering transform Great Plains stream fish communities

Perkin

Gido

Cooper

et al. 2015

Ecological Monographs

171

176

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Abstract. Biodiversity in stream networks is threatened globally by interactions between habitat fragmentation and altered hydrologic regimes. In the Great Plains of North America, stream networks are fragmented by .19 000 anthropogenic barriers, and flow regimes are altered by surface water retention and groundwater extraction. We documented the distribution of anthropogenic barriers and dry stream segments in five basins covering the central Great Plains to assess effects of broad-scale environmental change on stream fish community structure and distribution of reproductive guilds. We used an informationtheoretic approach to rank competing models in which fragmentation, discharge magnitude, and percentage of time streams had zero flow (a measure of desiccation) were included to predict effects of environmental alterations on the distribution of fishes belonging to different reproductive guilds. Fragmentation caused by anthropogenic barriers was most common in the eastern Great Plains, but stream desiccation became more common to the west, where rivers are underlain by the depleted (i.e., extraction . recharge) High Plains Aquifer. Longitudinal gradients in fragmentation and desiccation contributed to spatial shifts in community structure from taxonomically and functionally diverse communities dominated by pelagic reproductive guilds where fragmentation and desiccation were least, to homogenized communities dominated by benthic guilds where fragmentation and desiccation were common. Modeling results revealed these shifts were primarily associated with decline of pelagic reproductive guilds, notably small-bodied pelagophilic and lithopelagophilic fishes that declined in association with decreased fragment length and increased number of days with zero flow. Graph theory combined with a barrier prioritization approach revealed specific fragments that could be reconnected to allow fishes within these guilds to colonize currently unoccupied fragments with the mitigation or removal of small dams (,10 m height). These findings are useful for natural resource managers charged with halting or reversing the prevailing pattern of declining fish diversity in the Great Plains. Our study represents one of the most comprehensive assessments of fish diversity responses to broad-scale environmental change in the Great Plains and provides a conservation strategy for addressing the simultaneous contributions of fragmentation and flow alteration to the global freshwater biodiversity crisis.

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“…Such increases in air temperature will likely result in increased surface water and groundwater temperatures and thus have profound effects on aquatic ecosystems (Regier and Meisner 1990;Schindler et al 1990). Potential effects include alteration of fish production (Plante and Downing 1993) as well as changes in the distributional ranges of fish (Matthews and Zimmerman 1990;Meisner 1990a). In elevationally diverse regions such as the Rocky Mountains, warming stream temperatures would restrict cold water species to increasAcknowledgments…”

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confidence: 99%

Potential habitat loss and population fragmentation for cold water fish in the North Platte River drainage of the Rocky Mountains: Response to climate warming

Rahel

Keleher

Anderson

1996

Limnology & Oceanography

128

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We used three approaches to examine potential habitat loss in relation to climate warming for cold water species of fish in the North Platte River drainage in Wyoming. The projected loss of habitat varied among approaches, but all methods indicated a noticeable loss of habitat for even minor increases in temperature. An approach based on the use of summer air temperatures to define the thermal limits of cold water species estimated a loss of 9-76% of the present geographic range for temperature increases of l-5°C. A second approach, also based on air temperature limits, projected a loss of 7-64% of the stream distance currently having thermally suitable habitat for cold water fish for temperature increases of I-5°C. A third approach, based on the use of summer water temperatures to define the thermal limits of cold water species, projected a loss of 16-69% of the stream distance currently having thermally suitable habitat for temperature increases of l-5°C. In addition to habitat loss, population fragmentation would occur as remaining enclaves of cold water fish are forced to retreat to increasingly isolated headwater stream reaches.

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Potential Effects of Global Warming on Native Fishes of the Southern Great Plains and the Southwest

Cited by 101 publications

References 0 publications

Effects of climate warming on fish thermal habitat in streams of the United States

Effects of climate warming on fish thermal habitat in streams of the United States

Fragmentation and dewatering transform Great Plains stream fish communities

Potential habitat loss and population fragmentation for cold water fish in the North Platte River drainage of the Rocky Mountains: Response to climate warming

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