Abstract
Higher temperatures and more precipitation are likely to affect the distribution and abundance of pike, a key lake piscivore, and thereby the production of several species of salmonid fish. The climate can have direct effects on intake rates, metabolic costs and dispersal ability, and indirect effects mediated via changes in the carrying capacity. The objectives of this project is: a) To build empirical models that predict how a changing climate will affect the distribution of pike and its effects on salmonid populations. Data on present and historical species distributions, the outcome introductions, and recolonization after rotenone treatments will be used. b) To build mechanistic models describing how temperature affects the interaction between an omnivorous predator and an intermediate consumer. These models will be parameterized using published data on the temperature dependence of energy mobilization in lakes, and intake rates and metabolic costs for pike and trout.
Sweden