Abstract
Adapted to life in cold, polar waters, might Arctic fishes be ill equipped to deal with the rising temperatures expected from global climate change? Little is currently known about differences in tolerance among the diverse collection of nearshore, estuarine, and freshwater fishes found in the Arctic. We investigated the thermal tolerance of this broader Arctic ichthyofauna by studying heat tolerance among common members of the fish fauna near Utqiaġvik (Barrow), Alaska. Situated on the Arctic coast, Utqiaġvik provides access to fishes that span the key ecological divisions of Arctic waters. Organismal heat tolerance was measured for six species of local fishes using the critical thermal maximum methodology. We found that these Arctic nearshore fishes commonly had heat tolerance limits that were similar to cold-temperate species. However, there was substantial variation in heat tolerance among North Slope fishes, with several anadromous species endemic to Arctic habitats notable for significantly lower heat tolerance compared to the other investigated species. This would suggest that vulnerability to warming differs among Arctic fishes, even among those collected in the same waters, with species such as least cisco and broad whitefish seemingly most at risk from future increases in water temperature.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank research support from the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management and from UIC Science. We would additionally like to thank the contributions of Dr. John "Craig" George, Intern Stacey Davis, and Shaofeng Bilyk for their help throughout the experiment.
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KTB and TLS designed the study, TLS handled collection, KTB handled experimentation and data analysis, KTB and TLS wrote the manuscript together.
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Collection, care, and experimentation were carried out in compliance with the state of Alaska Department of Fish and Game Aquatic Resource Permit SF2019-094 and protocol #19–08 approved by the Western Kentucky University IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee).
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300_2021_2815_MOESM1_ESM.docx
Online Resource 1 Latitudinal range and climatic zone of the study species. To provide biogeographic context for the heat tolerance determined in the study species, this table provides information on the latitudinal range and preferred climatic zone as reported from Fishbase (DOCX 19 kb)
300_2021_2815_MOESM2_ESM.docx
Online Resource 2 Species and associated references used in Figure 2. Fish species with available CTmax measurements that were used in Figure 2. References for the paper providing the CTmaxs are listed along with each species (DOCX 36 kb)
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Bilyk, K.T., Sformo, T.L. Varying heat tolerance among Arctic nearshore fishes. Polar Biol 44, 607–612 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02815-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02815-6