Impacts of a changing climate on native lamprey species: From physiology to ecosystem services
2021
Wang, Christina | Michael Hudson, J. | Lassalle, Géraldine | Whitesel, Timothy
Lampreys are jawless fishes that evolved hundreds of millions of years ago and exhibit multiple and varied life history strategies. Rapid changes in the current climate are clear, and warming temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns over the past several decades are projected to continue into the foreseeable future. The effects of our changing climate may impact lamprey species worldwide in ways already recorded for other taxa including range contractions. In order to manage and conserve the varied native lamprey species and mitigate for the potential impacts from climate change, it is necessary to understand how lampreys and their communities could be affected. We use the potential pathways of community change identified by Hughes (2000) to evaluate whether lampreys and their aquatic and human communities are already being affected by climate change. Evidence supports the likelihood that climate change will affect the physiology and phenology of lampreys as well as their distribution and contributions to communities and ecosystems. However, when considering their length of time on the planet, evolutionary history resulting from that time, multitude of life history expressions and range of distribution, it is possible that lampreys may be relatively resilient to climate change.
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