Research in Thermal Biology: Burning Questions for Coldwater Stream Fishes

McCullough, Dale A.; Bartholow, John M.; Jager, Henriëtte I.; Beschta, Robert L.; Cheslak, Edward F.; Deas, Michael L.; Ebersole, Joseph L.; Foott, J. Scott; Johnson, Sherri L.; Marine, Keith R.; Mesa, Matthew G.; Petersen, James H.; Souchon, Yves; Tiffan, Kenneth F.; Wurtsbaugh, Wayne A.

doi:10.1080/10641260802590152

Cited by 197 publications

(198 citation statements)

References 148 publications

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“…Our conclusion differs somewhat from those of other studies worldwide (e.g. Buisson et al 2008;Graham and Harrod 2009;Heino et al 2009;McCullough et al 2009) that have strongly implicated warming as being the major impact on freshwater fish assemblages through the surpassing or optimisation of thermal tolerances. This key difference likely reflects the primary focus of many studies on northern hemisphere or high-latitude freshwater environments where water availability is currently not, and is unlikely to be, limiting.…”

Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 56%

“…Relatively few studies have explored the implications of climate change for freshwater biota, with the majority of these focussing on northern hemisphere or high-latitude freshwaters (e.g. Xenopoulos and Lodge 2006;Buisson et al 2008;Graham and Harrod 2009;Heino et al 2009;McCullough et al 2009; but see Carpenter et al 1992, for global perspectives, and Chessman 2009. Projected global warming that surpasses or optimises thermal tolerances and requirements is often emphasised as a major driver of assemblage turnover, range shifts and range expansions in these systems because surface water is seldom limiting (but see Xenopoulos and Lodge 2006, for hydrological example).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climate change and its implications for Australia's freshwater fish

Morrongiello¹,

Beatty²,

Bennett³

et al. 2011

Mar. Freshwater Res.

157

132

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Abstract. Freshwater environments and their fishes are particularly vulnerable to climate change because the persistence and quality of aquatic habitat depend heavily on climatic and hydrologic regimes. In Australia, projections indicate that the rate and magnitude of climate change will vary across the continent. We review the likely effects of these changes on Australian freshwater fishes across geographic regions encompassing a diversity of habitats and climatic variability. Commonalities in the predicted implications of climate change on fish included habitat loss and fragmentation, surpassing of physiological tolerances and spread of alien species. Existing anthropogenic stressors in more developed regions are likely to compound these impacts because of the already reduced resilience of fish assemblages. Many Australian freshwater fish species are adapted to variable or unpredictable flow conditions and, in some cases, this evolutionary history may confer resistance or resilience to the impacts of climate change. However, the rate and magnitude of projected change will outpace the adaptive capacities of many species. Climate change therefore seriously threatens the persistence of many of Australia's freshwater fish species, especially of those with limited ranges or specific habitat requirements, or of those that are already occurring close to physiological tolerance limits. Human responses to climate change should be proactive and focus on maintaining population resilience through the protection of habitat, mitigation of current anthropogenic stressors, adequate planning and provisioning of environmental flows and the consideration of more interventionist options such as managed translocations.

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Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 56%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change and its implications for Australia's freshwater fish

Morrongiello¹,

Beatty²,

Bennett³

et al. 2011

Mar. Freshwater Res.

157

132

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Despite the important influence of flow regime, we nevertheless found that temperature increases themselves were likely to play a dominant role in driving future declines of cutthroat trout, brook trout, and rainbow trout. The actual mechanisms for temperature-driven extirpations are likely to be manifold and complex, involving growth rates, incubation times, competitive ability relative to other species, and asynchrony with prey, which can cause negative population growth rates even if temperatures never reach the lethal range for individuals (28).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flow regime, temperature, and biotic interactions drive differential declines of trout species under climate change

Wenger

Isaak

Luce

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

515

519

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Broad-scale studies of climate change effects on freshwater species have focused mainly on temperature, ignoring critical drivers such as flow regime and biotic interactions. We use downscaled outputs from general circulation models coupled with a hydrologic model to forecast the effects of altered flows and increased temperatures on four interacting species of trout across the interior western United States (1.01 million km 2 ), based on empirical statistical models built from fish surveys at 9,890 sites. Projections under the 2080s A1B emissions scenario forecast a mean 47% decline in total suitable habitat for all trout, a group of fishes of major socioeconomic and ecological significance. We project that native cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarkii, already excluded from much of its potential range by nonnative species, will lose a further 58% of habitat due to an increase in temperatures beyond the species' physiological optima and continued negative biotic interactions. Habitat for nonnative brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis and brown trout Salmo trutta is predicted to decline by 77% and 48%, respectively, driven by increases in temperature and winter flood frequency caused by warmer, rainier winters. Habitat for rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, is projected to decline the least (35%) because negative temperature effects are partly offset by flow regime shifts that benefit the species. These results illustrate how drivers other than temperature influence species response to climate change. Despite some uncertainty, large declines in trout habitat are likely, but our findings point to opportunities for strategic targeting of mitigation efforts to appropriate stressors and locations.global change | hydrology | invasive species | niche model | distribution modeling N early all broad-scale analyses of climate effects on freshwater species have focused on temperature shifts, to the exclusion of other climate-driven drivers. Although temperature is a critical determinant of metabolic and physical processes (1), important ecosystem effects on streams and rivers may also be mediated by flow regime and biotic interactions. Flow regime has been described as a "master variable" (2) that controls or influences many aspects of the physical aquatic environment, as well as the timing of reproduction and migration of many organisms (3). Biotic interactions are increasingly recognized as important components of climate-species relationships (4, 5), but are rarely included in projections of species distributions under future climates, with some notable exceptions (6). Competitive interactions in particular are not commonly modeled (but see ref. 7), despite interest in invasive-native species interaction under climate change (8). It is likely that all three factors-temperature, flow regime, and biotic interactions-will play important roles in future aquatic species distributional shifts (8-11).Trout serve as excellent model organisms for examining how these mechanisms could alter population dynamics and species distributio...

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“…Few studies have documented withinspecies or even within-genus variation in fish tolerance to thermal maxima (McCullough et al 2009). Yet, we suggest that there may be considerable within-population variability in sub-lethal responses to how temperature units Table 1.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond the mean: The role of variability in predicting ecological effects of stream temperature on salmon

et al. 2012

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Abstract. Alterations in variance of riverine thermal regimes have been observed and are predicted with climate change and human development. We tested whether changes in daily or seasonal thermal variability, aside from changes in mean temperature, could have biological consequences by exposing Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) eggs to eight experimental thermal regimes. Thermal variance impacted both emergence timing and development at emergence. Further, genetics influenced the magnitude of that response. Ecological implications include: (1) changes in thermal variability, independent of warming, have the potential to alter the timing of life history processes, (2) the commonly-used degree day accumulation model is not sufficient to predict how organisms respond to altered temperature regimes, and (3) there are likely to be genetic differences in how individuals and populations respond to future water temperature regimes.

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Research in Thermal Biology: Burning Questions for Coldwater Stream Fishes

Cited by 197 publications

References 148 publications

Climate change and its implications for Australia's freshwater fish

Climate change and its implications for Australia's freshwater fish

Flow regime, temperature, and biotic interactions drive differential declines of trout species under climate change

Beyond the mean: The role of variability in predicting ecological effects of stream temperature on salmon

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