| Summary: | Chapter 8 focuses on the effects of warming and changes in precipitation patterns on aquatic life at high altitude. Located near the edge of their climatic limits, in regions where the rate of warming is generally amplified compared with lowlands, high altitude aquatic systems present a high sensitivity to climate change. Changes in mountain climate create a number of indirect effects on aquatic life through the control of hydrological systems and processes, particularly those associated with the cryosphere (e.g. permafrost and ice melting) and the soil–vegetation interface (e.g. treeline expansion). The chapter then presents the three basic options faced by all aquatic organisms as their environmental conditions alter as a result of climate change: adapt, migrate, or perish. At an ecosystem level, small changes in physical, chemical, or biological characteristics can be amplified into major shifts in limnological properties.
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