How does climate change affect aquatic ecosystems?
What aquatic species are affected?
Specifically, warm-water species will be affected directly, and these habitats are mainly in the southeastern part of the U.S.
The species affected include snails, mussels, crayfishes, and various types of fish.
How is the water affected?
Warmer temperature trends will cause more droughts, which will lessen the water supply that these habitats and ecosystems contain. Air and surface-water temperatures tend to correlate, meaning that surface-water temperatures increase with air-temperatures. Eventually, after a period of lag time, groundwater temperatures will also increase to the same temperatures as the surface-water temperatures.
How are the species affected?
An increase in water temperature may increase the vulnerability of a species to disease and weak physiological processes; moreover, higher water temperatures tend to decrease dissolved oxygen in surface waters that many aquatic creatures need to breathe. There are also toxic water pollutants that are more detrimental to fish at higher temperatures rather than lower temperatures.
Many native warm-water fish in the southwest and central U.S. actually live near their thermal limits, and if water temperatures are predicted to rise just 4 degrees Celsius, 20 unique species of warm-water stream fish with no access to migration will be vulnerable to extinction.
