Abstract
Climate change influences air temperature and precipitation, and as a direct consequence, the annual discharge pattern in rivers will change as climate warming continues. This has an impact on bedload transport and consequently on aquatic life, because coarse sediments in streams provide important habitat for many species. Salmonids, for example, spawn in gravel, and during their early life stages live in or on top of the substrate. We used a multiple model approach to assess how predicted discharge changes affect bedload transport and the vulnerable early life stages of brown trout (Salmo trutta fario) in a prealpine catchment in Switzerland. In the study area, future discharge scenarios predict an increased frequency of flood occurrence in winter and long-lasting low-flow periods in summer. As a result, bed erosion will become more frequent during winter, leading to less stable spawning grounds and deeper scouring, but during summer, an improvement in habitat diversity can be expected, which is advantageous for young-of-the-year fish. To face the future challenges of climate change, we recommend widening of riverbeds and improvements in longitudinal connectivity.
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Acknowledgements
The investigations related to the fish habitat and the bedload transport modelling were supported by a Grant of the Swiss National Science Foundation (NRP 61 Project SEDRIVER Contract No. 406140-125975/1) to DR, AP and JMT. The hydrological impact study has been supported by a Grant from the Swiss Federal Office for Environment (CCHydro). We are indebted to the EU FP6 Project ENSEMBLES (Contract 505539) and MeteoSwiss for providing us access to all necessary data. Many thanks go to Reto Haas for support on GIS and in the field. We are also grateful for field support to Salome Mwaiko, Cristina Hertz and Brigitte German. Furthermore, we thank Catherine E. Wagner for reviewing the manuscript.
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Junker, J., Heimann, F.U.M., Hauer, C. et al. Assessing the impact of climate change on brown trout (Salmo trutta fario) recruitment. Hydrobiologia 751, 1–21 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-014-2073-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-014-2073-4