“Climate change is increasing stream temperatures and thereby changing habitat suitability for a variety of freshwater fishes. We investigate how suitable stream habitat for rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), a valuable cold-water species, may change in British Columbia, Canada, currently near the north end of their range. We examine a no-mitigation climate change scenario (RCP 8.5), and one with moderate mitigation (RCP 4.5). We used a watershed-scale regression model incorporating topographic, hydrological and climatic variables to estimate current and projected maximum weekly average stream temperatures throughout the province.”
Read more in the article by IBioS faculty member Dr. Kai Chan.