SENSITIVITY OF JUVENILE SALMONID GROWTH TO FUTURE CLIMATE TRENDS

Seasonal temperature and bioenergetic models were coupled to explore the impacts on juvenile salmonid growth of possible climate-induced changes to mean annual water temperature and snowpack in four characteristic ecoregions. Increasing mean temperature increases juvenile growth in streams that currently experience cool spring temperatures. In streams with currently warm spring temperatures, an increase shortens the duration of optimal conditions and truncates growth. A loss of snow enhances growth in cool-summer streams and decreases growth in warm-summer streams. The relative impacts of such climate change trends will vary significantly across ecoregions. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.