Author(s): Taeyong Shim; Zhonghyun Kim; Jinho Jung
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Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: Climate change is known to influence freshwater environment due to changes in water quantity and quality, ultimately affecting the habitat quality of aquatic organisms. In order to predict climate change effects on freshwater fish species, habitat suitability models have been applied. Most of these models evaluate habitat suitability based on hydraulic factors, while not considering water temperature change caused by climate change. In this study, ecological habitat suitability model (EHSM) was developed by combining hydraulic (water velocity and depth) and physiological (growth and stress) variables. Zacco platypus was selected as the representative species due to its broad distribution in Korean streams and rivers. Future prediction at 2030 (2026-2035) and 2050 (2046-2055) were based on RCP 4.5 and 8.5 emission scenarios. Different combinations of hydraulic and physiological suitability indices were tested by comparing with fish survey data. Regression analysis have shown that hydraulic suitability contributes slightly higher than physiologic suitability. However, there was little difference between combination methods. As a result, multiplication was selected as the method of integrating hydraulic and physiological suitability indices due to its simplicity and versatile application. Habitat suitability of Z. platypus was expected to increase with increasing temperature by climate change, which is mainly due to its broad thermal habitat preference. Further studies are needed to integrate other water quality parameters such as suspended solid, total nitrogen, total phosphorous etc.
Year: 2018