Threatened salmon rely on a rare life history strategy in a warming landscape

F. Cordoleani (), C. C. Phillis, A. M. Sturrock, A. M. FitzGerald, A. Malkassian, G. E. Whitman, P. K. Weber and R. C. Johnson
Additional contact information
F. Cordoleani: University of California Santa Cruz
C. C. Phillis: The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
A. M. Sturrock: University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park
A. M. FitzGerald: University of California Santa Cruz
A. Malkassian: Aix Marseille Université
G. E. Whitman: University of California Davis
P. K. Weber: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
R. C. Johnson: Southwest Fisheries Science Center

Nature Climate Change, 2021, vol. 11, issue 11, 982-988

Abstract: Abstract Rare phenotypes and behaviours within a population are often overlooked, yet they may serve a heightened role for species imperilled by rapid warming. In threatened spring-run Chinook salmon spawning at the southern edge of the species range, we show late-migrating juveniles are critical to cohort success in years characterized by droughts and ocean heatwaves. Late migrants rely on cool river temperatures over summer, increasingly rare due to the combined effects of warming and impassable dams. Despite the dominance of late migrants, other strategies played an important role in many years. Our results suggest that further loss of phenotypic diversity will have critical impacts on population persistence in a warming climate. Predicted thermally suitable river conditions for late migrants will shrink rapidly in the future and will be largely relegated above impassable dams. Reconnecting diverse habitat mosaics to support phenotypic diversity will be integral to the long-term persistence of this species.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01186-4 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcli:v:11:y:2021:i:11:d:10.1038_s41558-021-01186-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/nclimate/

DOI: 10.1038/s41558-021-01186-4

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Climate Change is currently edited by Bronwyn Wake

More articles in Nature Climate Change from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().