What is it about?
High-time-resolution models for streamflow and stream temperature are used in this study to predict future brown trout habitat loss. Flow reductions falling down to 51 % of current values and water temperature increases growing up to 4 ºC are predicted. Streamflow and temperature will act synergistically affecting fish. We found that the thermal response of rivers is influenced by basin geology and, consequently, geology will be also an influent factor in the cold-water fish distribution shift.
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Why is it important?
The objective of this study is to predict how and to what extent the availability of suitable habitat for the brown trout, a sensitive cold-water species, will change within its current natural distribution under the new climate scenarios through a study of changes in streamflow and temperature and their interactions. Specifically, in this paper, we (i) assessed the effects of both streamflow and geology on stream temperature; (ii) predicted the changes in streamflow and stream temperature implied by the climate change scenarios used in the 5th Assessment Report (AR5) of the IPCC; and (iii) assessed the expected effects of these changes on trout habitat aptitude.
Perspectives
We develop a method to predict stream temperature and streamflow from climatic scenarios, and to assess the impact on the thermal habitat of fishes. This method can be very useful to design management strategies for rivers and fish conservation in a changing world.
Dr José M Santiago
Universidad Politecnica de Madrid
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Waning habitats due to climate change: the effects of changes in streamflow and temperature at the rear edge of the distribution of a cold-water fish, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, August 2017, Copernicus GmbH,
DOI: 10.5194/hess-21-4073-2017.
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