Asymmetric impacts of climate change on thermal habitat suitability for inland lake fishes

Climate change is altering the thermal habitats of freshwater fish species. We analyze modeled daily temperature profiles from 12,688 lakes in the US to track changes in thermal habitat of 60 lake fish species from different thermal guilds during 1980-2021. We quantify changes in each species' preferred days, defined as the number of days per year when a lake contains the species' preferred temperature. We find that cooler-water species are losing preferred days more rapidly than warmer-water species are gaining them. This asymmetric impact cannot be attributed to differences in geographic distribution among species; instead, it is linked to the seasonal dynamics of lake temperatures and increased thermal homogenization of the water column. The potential advantages of an increase in warmer-water species may not fully compensate for the losses in cooler-water species as warming continues, emphasizing the importance of mitigating climate change to support effective freshwater fisheries management.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2024-11-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54533-2
Citations
13
Primary Topic
Fish Ecology and Management Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
8.98

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article

Asymmetric impacts of climate change on thermal habitat suitability for inland lake fishes

Robert Ladwig, Paul Frater, Zachary S. Feiner, Luoliang Xu et al.
13 citations
Nature Communications
Fish Ecology and Management Studies
8.98
article

Asymmetric impacts of climate change on thermal habitat suitability for inland lake fishes

Robert Ladwig, Paul Frater, Zachary S. Feiner, Luoliang Xu, Michael R. Verhoeven, Gretchen J. A. Hansen, Craig P. Paukert, Lyndsie S. Wszola, Olaf P. Jensen
article en
13 citations

Abstract

Climate change is altering the thermal habitats of freshwater fish species. We analyze modeled daily temperature profiles from 12,688 lakes in the US to track changes in thermal habitat of 60 lake fish species from different thermal guilds during 1980-2021. We quantify changes in each species' preferred days, defined as the number of days per year when a lake contains the species' preferred temperature. We find that cooler-water species are losing preferred days more rapidly than warmer-water species are gaining them. This asymmetric impact cannot be attributed to differences in geographic distribution among species; instead, it is linked to the seasonal dynamics of lake temperatures and increased thermal homogenization of the water column. The potential advantages of an increase in warmer-water species may not fully compensate for the losses in cooler-water species as warming continues, emphasizing the importance of mitigating climate change to support effective freshwater fisheries management.

Nature CommunicationsVol. 15(1)
United States Geological Survey (US), University of Minnesota (US), Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (US), University of Wisconsin–Madison (US), Aarhus University (DK), Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (US), University of Missouri (US)
University of Missouri, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey
Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Fish Ecology and Management Studies
8.98
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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