A Summary Of The Effects Of Climate Change On Ontario S Aquatic Ecosystems

And resumé -- 1.0. Introduction -- 2.0. Organization of this review -- 3.0. Climate and change.

"This report provides information about the known and potential effects of climate change on aquatic ecosystems; selected fish species (lake trout [Salvelinus namaycush], brook trout [Salvelinus fontinalis], walleye [Sander vitreus], and smallmouth bass [Micropterus dolomieui]); and outlines research priorities and management strategies available to natural asset managers."--Document.

This text examines the impact of climate change on freshwater ecosystems, past, present and future. It especially considers the interactions between climate change and other drivers of change including hydromorphological modification, nutrient loading, acid deposition and contamination by toxic substances using evidence from palaeolimnology, time-series analysis, space-for-time substitution, laboratory and field experiments and process modelling. The book evaluates these processes in relation to extreme events, seasonal changes in ecosystems, trends over decadal-scale time periods, mitigation strategies and ecosystem recovery. The book is also concerned with how aspects of hydrophysical, hydrochemical and ecological change can be used as early indicators of climate change in aquatic ecosystems and it addresses the implications of future climate change for freshwater ecosystem management at the catchment scale. This is an ideal book for the scientific research community, but is also accessible to Masters and senior undergraduate students.

"This compilation report aims to provide a summary of available information on climate change effects on aquatic life in the Freshwater basins of Canada. An important outcome of this review is a summary of gaps of knowledge. The first chapter is a review of predicted climate induced changes on freshwater fish communities and food webs and details the effects of changes in biotic and abiotic processes on freshwater fish communities and food webs. The second chapter describes the impact that changes in climate are expected to have both directly and indirectly on a variety of fish species and their habitats. The third Chapter describes suitable thermal habitat for stream biota based on different climate variables to assess the potential impacts of climate change on the distribution of coldwater stream fish species in the Great Lakes Basin. The last chapter provides an overview of climate change impacts on water temperature, water chemistry, ice cover, water levels, and productivity. This report provides significant evidence that under a changing climate we can expect significant changes in the spatial extent and duration of preferred thermal habitat for ecologically and economically important fish across the Freshwater region. Warming temperatures expected with climate change will cause areas to approach water temperatures that are no longer thermally optimum for fish species. Species will need to migrate to find suitable habitats and productivity and survival success may decline for some species. Greater habitat overlap may intensify interguild competition and food web interactions. These changes in thermal habitat may intensify top down food web effects"--Abstract.

Proceedings of a workshop whose objectives were: to present and discuss results of recent climate change experiments undertaken in Canada; to evaluate a variety of climate models and impact analyses and to develop methods and strategies for future studies; to establish working linkages between modelers and analysts in the fields of climate, hydrology, and ecosystem research.

Changes in air temperatures, precipitation patterns, and extreme weather events associated with climate change have and will continue to influence aquatic ecosystems. Increased water temperatures, changes in the timing of the spring freshet, the duration of ice-cover, and the composition of wetlands have been already documented in several systems. Lake Simcoe and the wetlands and streams within the Lake Simcoe Watershed are also being affected by climate change. The objectives of this study were to (1) use ecological indicators to assess the potential effects of climate change and (2) apply those results to inform the development of a climate change adaptation strategy for aquatic ecosystems within the Lake Simcoe Watershed. For each ecosystem, physical habitat changes associated with climate change were paired with a biological indicator.--Document.

On- strategies organized according to the need to understand climate site land use planning and management techniques must be change, mitigate the impacts of rapid climate change, and help designed to protect the ecological and social pieces, patterns, Ontarians adapt to climate change: and processes. [...] Given the uncertainty in the amount of emissions and associated effects, natural resource management agencies around the world are using a number of climate models and scenarios of human behaviour to depict a range of potential climatic conditions and impacts that may appear in the next 100 years. [...] It is notable that the countries attending the 2005 climate change conference in Montreal to review and discuss future programs under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol agreed that the development of adaptation tools and techniques should receive significant attention during the next 5 years. [...] Species Distribution and Abundance in Response to Climate Change The distribution and abundance of a species across its geographic range is related to both biotic (e.g., food, competition, and disease) and abiotic (e.g., climate and substrate) factors. [...] There are several ways to examine the effects of climate on terrestrial fauna, and to determine how climate change may affect species and their habitat in the future.

Reviews literature concerning the effects of global climate change on forest plants and communities, and provides opinions on the potential impacts that climate change may have on Ontario forests. Sections of the review discuss the following: the climate of Ontario in the 21st century as predicted by climate models; forest hydrology in relation to climate change; insects and climate change; impacts on fungi in the forest ecosystem; impacts on forest fires and their management; plant physiological responses; genetic implications of climate change; forest vegetation dynamics; the use of models in global climate change studies; and forest management responses to climate change.