Expected Climate Change in the High Arctic—Good or Bad for Arctic Charr?
Lakes in the High Arctic are characterized by their low water temperature, long-term ice cover, low levels of nutrients, and low biodiversity. These conditions mean that minor climatic changes may be of great importance to Arctic freshwater organisms, including fish, by influencing vital life histor...
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3109772 https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes9010008 |
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ftimr:oai:imr.brage.unit.no:11250/3109772 2024-02-04T09:56:56+01:00 Expected Climate Change in the High Arctic—Good or Bad for Arctic Charr? Svenning, Martin Bjørvik, Eigil T. Godiksen, Jane Aanestad Hammar, Johan Kohler, Jack Borgstrøm, Reidar Yoccoz, Nigel Gilles 2023 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3109772 https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes9010008 eng eng urn:issn:2410-3888 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3109772 https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes9010008 cristin:2219706 9 Fishes VDP::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 VDP::Zoology and botany: 480 Peer reviewed Journal article 2023 ftimr https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes9010008 2024-01-10T23:47:43Z Lakes in the High Arctic are characterized by their low water temperature, long-term ice cover, low levels of nutrients, and low biodiversity. These conditions mean that minor climatic changes may be of great importance to Arctic freshwater organisms, including fish, by influencing vital life history parameters such as individual growth rates. In this study, Arctic charr sampled from two Svalbard lakes (78–79◦ N) over the period 1960–2008 provided back-calculated length-at age information extending over six decades, covering both warm and cold spells. The estimated annual growth in young-of-the-year (YOY) Arctic charr correlated positively with an increasing air temperature in summer. This increase is likely due to the higher water temperature during the ice-free period, and also to some extent, due to the winter air temperature; this is probably due to thinner ice being formed in mild winters and the subsequent earlier ice break-up. However, years with higher snow accumulation correlated with slower growth rates, which may be due to delayed ice break-up and thus a shorter summer growing season. More than 30% of the growth in YOY charr could be explained specifically by air temperature and snow accumulation in the two Arctic charr populations. This indicated that juvenile Svalbard Arctic charr may experience increased growth rates in a future warmer climate, although future increases in precipitation may contradict the positive effects of higher temperatures to some extent. In the longer term, a warmer climate may lead to the complete loss of many glaciers in western Svalbard; therefore, rivers may dry out, thus hindering migration between salt water and fresh water for migratory fish. In the worst-case scenario, the highly valuable and attractive anadromous Arctic charr populations could eventually disappear from the Svalbard lake systems. High Arctic; Svalbard lake systems; climate impact; Arctic charr; growth rate; anadromy publishedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic charr Arctic Climate change Svalbard Institute for Marine Research: Brage IMR Arctic Svalbard Fishes 9 1 8 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Institute for Marine Research: Brage IMR |
op_collection_id |
ftimr |
language |
English |
topic |
VDP::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 VDP::Zoology and botany: 480 |
spellingShingle |
VDP::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 VDP::Zoology and botany: 480 Svenning, Martin Bjørvik, Eigil T. Godiksen, Jane Aanestad Hammar, Johan Kohler, Jack Borgstrøm, Reidar Yoccoz, Nigel Gilles Expected Climate Change in the High Arctic—Good or Bad for Arctic Charr? |
topic_facet |
VDP::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 VDP::Zoology and botany: 480 |
description |
Lakes in the High Arctic are characterized by their low water temperature, long-term ice cover, low levels of nutrients, and low biodiversity. These conditions mean that minor climatic changes may be of great importance to Arctic freshwater organisms, including fish, by influencing vital life history parameters such as individual growth rates. In this study, Arctic charr sampled from two Svalbard lakes (78–79◦ N) over the period 1960–2008 provided back-calculated length-at age information extending over six decades, covering both warm and cold spells. The estimated annual growth in young-of-the-year (YOY) Arctic charr correlated positively with an increasing air temperature in summer. This increase is likely due to the higher water temperature during the ice-free period, and also to some extent, due to the winter air temperature; this is probably due to thinner ice being formed in mild winters and the subsequent earlier ice break-up. However, years with higher snow accumulation correlated with slower growth rates, which may be due to delayed ice break-up and thus a shorter summer growing season. More than 30% of the growth in YOY charr could be explained specifically by air temperature and snow accumulation in the two Arctic charr populations. This indicated that juvenile Svalbard Arctic charr may experience increased growth rates in a future warmer climate, although future increases in precipitation may contradict the positive effects of higher temperatures to some extent. In the longer term, a warmer climate may lead to the complete loss of many glaciers in western Svalbard; therefore, rivers may dry out, thus hindering migration between salt water and fresh water for migratory fish. In the worst-case scenario, the highly valuable and attractive anadromous Arctic charr populations could eventually disappear from the Svalbard lake systems. High Arctic; Svalbard lake systems; climate impact; Arctic charr; growth rate; anadromy publishedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Svenning, Martin Bjørvik, Eigil T. Godiksen, Jane Aanestad Hammar, Johan Kohler, Jack Borgstrøm, Reidar Yoccoz, Nigel Gilles |
author_facet |
Svenning, Martin Bjørvik, Eigil T. Godiksen, Jane Aanestad Hammar, Johan Kohler, Jack Borgstrøm, Reidar Yoccoz, Nigel Gilles |
author_sort |
Svenning, Martin |
title |
Expected Climate Change in the High Arctic—Good or Bad for Arctic Charr? |
title_short |
Expected Climate Change in the High Arctic—Good or Bad for Arctic Charr? |
title_full |
Expected Climate Change in the High Arctic—Good or Bad for Arctic Charr? |
title_fullStr |
Expected Climate Change in the High Arctic—Good or Bad for Arctic Charr? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Expected Climate Change in the High Arctic—Good or Bad for Arctic Charr? |
title_sort |
expected climate change in the high arctic—good or bad for arctic charr? |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3109772 https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes9010008 |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic charr Arctic Climate change Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic charr Arctic Climate change Svalbard |
op_source |
9 Fishes |
op_relation |
urn:issn:2410-3888 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3109772 https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes9010008 cristin:2219706 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes9010008 |
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Fishes |
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9 |
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1 |
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8 |
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1789961255097729024 |