Potential effects of climate change on stream organisms
Bobbi Peckarsky, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Co-sponsors: Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, School of Biology & Ecology
While increasing temperatures have received much focus of the effects of climate change, associated increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme events, such as droughts and floods, may have important consequences for stream organisms. Investigators at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory are investigating the potential for those events to negatively affect plants, insects and trout in high elevation streams of western Colorado, USA. Disruption of the natural flow regime via climate change could jeopardize the sustainability of otherwise pristine mountain streams.