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CONSERVATION PRIORITIES

Cold-water species need warm water too

Nature Climate Change volume 11, pages 297–299 (2021)Cite this article

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Climate change vulnerability assessments of cold-water species have focused on protecting cold summer habitats in high-elevation streams. Now, a study shows that seasonally warm rivers can provide the majority of growth potential for cold-water fishes, unveiling a notable blind spot in freshwater climate research and planning.

Climate change is warming up the planet’s lands, rivers and seas, putting many species at risk as temperatures exceed thermal limits1. In response, resource managers are increasingly challenged with identifying and prioritizing ‘climate refugia’: habitats that will best allow for species persistence2. In attempting to do so, complex ecological processes are typically distilled into simple maps that may not account for temporal dynamics of species’ movements and habitat use across landscapes. In this issue of Nature Climate Change, Armstrong and colleagues3 show that such approaches may be insufficient to conserve species in a warming world. They demonstrate that growth opportunities for migratory cold-water fishes seasonally propagate up and down river networks, and that downstream habitats that are warm in the summer provide the majority of growth potential during the spring and autumn. These findings uncover a synergy between cold and warm habitats supporting productive cold-water fisheries that is currently overlooked in climate adaptation planning.

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Fig. 1: Seasonably warm habitats are important for supporting cold-water species.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. Geological Survey, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, Glacier National Park, MT, USA

    Clint C. Muhlfeld

  2. University of Montana, Flathead Lake Biological Station, Polson, MT, USA

    Clint C. Muhlfeld

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  1. Clint C. Muhlfeld
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Correspondence to Clint C. Muhlfeld.

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Muhlfeld, C.C. Cold-water species need warm water too. Nat. Clim. Chang. 11, 297–299 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01013-w

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