Abstract
Climate change will affect both the quality and the quantity of water in freshwater environments. Changes in air temperature and precipitation will alter the annual water temperature cycle and the annual water level cycle. Initial assessments of the effects of climate change on freshwater fishes of North America have focused on the potential thermal effects of climate change because of the strong influence of water temperature on the life histories of temperate fishes. Paralleling the influence of water temperature on temperate fishes is the influence of water quantity on tropical fishes, especially on riverine fishes. The extreme seasonal fluctuations in discharge of tropical rivers, through the effects on fish habitat availability and habitat conditions, have produced a range in preferred habitat types among riverine fishes. We suggest that initial assessment of potential effects of climate change on tropical freshwater fishes should focus on changes to water quantity variables in riverine environments. Assessments should begin at a coarse level of resolution. A useful starting point would be comparative analyses of the sensitivity of blackfishes and whitefishes to changes in habitat availability, oxygen levels and desiccation stress that will likely accompany changes in the seasonal flow regimes of tropical rivers.
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This paper formed part of a symposium held at the XVII Pacific Science Congress in Honolulu, Hawaii June 1991. The theme of the symposium was “Aspects of Global Environmental Change: Freshwater Ecosystems” which focused on southern Pacific environments.
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Meisner, J.D., Shuter, B.J. Assessing potential effects of global climate change on tropical freshwater fishes. GeoJournal 28, 21–27 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00216403
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00216403