Physiological Basis of Climate Change Impacts on North American Inland Fishes

Global climate change is altering freshwater ecosystems and affecting fish populations and communities. Underpinning changes in fish distribution and assemblage-level responses to climate change are individual-level physiological constraints. In this review, we synthesize the mechanistic effects of climate change on neuroendocrine, cardiorespiratory, immune, osmoregulatory, and reproductive systems of freshwater and diadromous fishes. Observed climate change effects on physiological systems are varied and numerous, including exceedance of critical thermal tolerances, decreased cardiorespiratory performance, compromised immune function, and altered patterns of individual reproductive investment. However, effects vary widely among and within species because of species, population, and even sex-specific differences in sensitivity and resilience and because of habitat-specific variation in the magnitude of climate-related environmental change. Research on the interactive effects of climate change with other environmental stressors across a broader range of fish diversity is needed to further our understanding of climate change effects on fish physiology

Center Stage: The Crucial Role of Macrophytes in Regulating Trophic Interactions in Shallow Lake Wetlands

Hydrophilic, or water-loving, macrophytes characterize wetland ecosystems, indicating prerequisite conditions of hydric soils and sufficient hydrology. The presence of such macrophytes is a key descriptor in multiple wetland def- initions (Lewis 2001a) and macrophytes may be further used to actually describe particular types of wetlands, such as cattail marshes. Macrophytes contribute significant biomass to wetland systems and represent a critical component of wetland biogeochemistry as primary producers and drivers of organic matter cycling within aquatic systems. In this chapter, we argue that macrophytes occupy the center of trophic interactions in shallow lakes, influ- encing outcomes through structural, behavioral and chemical interactions. We define shallow lakes as permanently flooded wetlands that often contain submerged or floating macrophytes and that may be surrounded by emergent vegetation (i.e.marshy habitat). Shallow remains a relative term in limnology circles, but typically is less than 3 m average depth, such that macrophytes can fill a substantial portion of the water column and stratification is neither pre- dictable nor long-term. Such systems may be termed lakes, ponds or wetlands, depending on their size and the ecological context. Macrophytes may regulate trophic interactions in ephemeral systems without permanent inundation