Lakehead University Library Logo
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   Knowledge Commons
    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations from 2009
    • View Item
    •   Knowledge Commons
    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations from 2009
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
    quick search

    Browse

    All of Knowledge CommonsCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDisciplineAdvisorCommittee MemberThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDisciplineAdvisorCommittee Member

    My Account

    Login

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    The effects of climate change on the growth and spawning phenology of fishes in aquatic boreal environments

    Thumbnail

    View/Open

    SlongoB2022m-1a.pdf (1.637Mb)

    Date

    2022

    Author

    Slongo, Brenden David

    Degree

    Master of Science

    Discipline

    Biology

    Subject

    Climate change
    Aquatic ecosystem
    Climatic impacts to inland fish populations

    Metadata

    Show full item record

    Abstract

    Global climate change is occurring and observed warming patterns have had significant impacts on aquatic environments as trends in water temperature are closely related to trends in air temperature. In ectothermic organisms such as fishes, temperature is relevant to the maturation and deposition of gametes during spawning, and lifetime growth potential. By using historical spawning and size at age datasets spanning 43 years, I estimated more than 100 peak spawning dates for White Sucker (Catostomus commersonii) and Lake Trout (Salvelinus namaycush) and described changes in growth of White Sucker to summarize the observed effects that local climate warming over the past 50 years has had on two economically and culturally important fishes in Northwestern Ontario. I show how spawning events are dependent on annual variation in seasonal thermal conditions, and how long-term increases in average fall surface water temperatures by 1.4oC and decreases to thermal cooling by 87 oCᐧdays in lakes have shifted the peak spawning date of Lake Trout by 5 days over the past 4 decades. Additionally, I show how changes in population density, likely as a result from increased survival and recruitment of juvenile White Suckers have worked to dramatically reduce the body size of White Sucker by over 90% in weight and 50% in length in some populations. Finally, I discovered that declining White Sucker body size appears to be a common pattern across an expansive geographic range. These results fill knowledge gaps in the current literature by providing observational accounts of climatic impacts to inland fish populations for a highly studied culturally significant species, and for a lesser considered, but ecologically important species.

    URI

    https://knowledgecommons.lakeheadu.ca/handle/2453/4962

    Collections

    • Electronic Theses and Dissertations from 2009

    Lakehead University Library
    Contact Us | Send Feedback

     


    Lakehead University Library
    Contact Us | Send Feedback