A multispecies assessment of climate change threats to salmonids across their life cycle
Presentation Abstract
During their life cycle, salmonids experience conditions in freshwater, estuarine, and marine habitats, exposing them to numerous climate change threats. The extent to which different species utilize different habitat types and habitat-specific climate change risks should result in differential overall vulnerability of these species to climate change, but most previous vulnerability assessments have focused only on particular life stages for particular species, hampering our ability to protect, restore stocks and their habitats to maximize species portfolios in river systems. We performed a life cycle-based risk assessment of climate change threats for nine species of salmonids (species within Oncorhynchus, Salvelinus, and Prosopium genera) inhabiting the Skagit River system, which is vulnerable to the panoply of climate impacts forecasted for the Pacific Northwest. The risk assessment integrated both species-specific intensity and exposure and incorporated uncertainty. We found that while climate change threats existed across all habitats inhabited by these species, the greatest threats to all species were associated with projected changes in the extremes of freshwater flow (high incubation flows, low summer flows). These results suggest that restoration strategies targeting restoration of floodplain function will be most effective for reducing the most serious threats for a broad portfolio of salmonids inhabiting the Skagit River, although other climate adaptation strategies may provide additional benefits to other suites of species.
Session Title
Session S-07H: Assessing, Planning and Adapting to Climate Change Impacts in Skagit River Watershed
Conference Track
Shorelines
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2014 : Seattle, Wash.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
1-5-2014 3:30 PM
End Date
1-5-2014 5:00 PM
Location
Room 607
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Salmonidae--Climatic factors--Skagit River (B.C. and Wash.)
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Skagit River (B.C. and Wash.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
A multispecies assessment of climate change threats to salmonids across their life cycle
Room 607
During their life cycle, salmonids experience conditions in freshwater, estuarine, and marine habitats, exposing them to numerous climate change threats. The extent to which different species utilize different habitat types and habitat-specific climate change risks should result in differential overall vulnerability of these species to climate change, but most previous vulnerability assessments have focused only on particular life stages for particular species, hampering our ability to protect, restore stocks and their habitats to maximize species portfolios in river systems. We performed a life cycle-based risk assessment of climate change threats for nine species of salmonids (species within Oncorhynchus, Salvelinus, and Prosopium genera) inhabiting the Skagit River system, which is vulnerable to the panoply of climate impacts forecasted for the Pacific Northwest. The risk assessment integrated both species-specific intensity and exposure and incorporated uncertainty. We found that while climate change threats existed across all habitats inhabited by these species, the greatest threats to all species were associated with projected changes in the extremes of freshwater flow (high incubation flows, low summer flows). These results suggest that restoration strategies targeting restoration of floodplain function will be most effective for reducing the most serious threats for a broad portfolio of salmonids inhabiting the Skagit River, although other climate adaptation strategies may provide additional benefits to other suites of species.
