Critical thermal refugia for Atlantic salmon and brook trout populations of eastern Canadian rivers

该项目涉及8名大学研究人员，他们拥有一系列的生物学和水文学专家。它的目的是研究魁北克南部和新不伦瑞克河流沿岸局部凉水避难所对鲑鱼的物理控制和生物学意义。在21世纪夏季变暖的情况下，这样的避暑场所可能会成为关键，限制我们主要的冷水猎鱼、鲑鱼和溪鲑鱼在其种群范围的南部极限生存的栖息地。凉热避难所既是异质的，也是视觉上不明显的：它们在维度、空间分布和物理控制方面范围很广：一些与沿河床的地下水上涌有关，另一些与特定支流的河口有关，还有一些与小的地下渗漏有关。鲑鱼或鲑鱼河系的这些神秘栖息地之间的典型分离是鲜为人知的，因为鲑鱼检测和迁移到这些地点的能力，或者鱼类死亡率作为距离和温度模式的函数的能力。此外，在21世纪后期未来气温、降雨和积雪条件的可能情景下，主要类型的河流内地下水上升流作为热避难所的相对维度和价值也不清楚。该项目将应用热红外探测结合鱼类生态实地调查，研究这些栖息地的空间分布和支持能力。通用水文地质模型将在区域气候情景的背景下探索一系列上游地下水上升环境。我们的工业合作伙伴魁北克水电公司需要我们最先进的工具和模型来监测和预测河流流量调整(和深层水库释放)对鱼类栖息地(包括热避难所)对其影响的河流生态系统的影响。在适应气候变化、北方河流生态系统管理和优化未来鱼类保护投资方面，可以预期对加拿大产生广泛的环境效益，方法是澄清未来的热力制度可以在多大程度上限制个别河流中冷水物种的生产力或生存，这是由于其特殊的避难所空间分布所致。

This project involves 8 university researchers with a range of biological and hydrological expertises. It aims to study the physical controls and biological significance for salmonids of localized, cool water refugia sites along rivers in southern Quebec and New Brunswick. Under a 21st century regime of warming summers, such thermal refugia may become key, limiting habitats for the survival of our dominant cold water sport fish, salmon and brook trout, at the southern limits of their population range. Cool thermal refugia are both heterogeneous and visually inconspicuous: they range widely in dimensions, spatial distribution and physical controls: some are associated with groundwater upwellings along river beds, others with the mouths of particular tributaries and some, with small hyporheic seeps. The typical separation between these cryptic habitats along salmon or trout rivers systems is poorly known as is the ability of salmonids to detect and migrate significant distances to such sites, or fish mortality rates as a function of distances and temperature patterns. Moreover, under likely scenarios of future temperature, rainfall and snow cover conditions for the later 21st century, the relative dimensions and value as thermal refugia of major types of in-stream groundwater upwellings is also unclear. This project will apply thermal IR detection combined with fish ecology field surveys to study the spatial distribution and support capacity of these habitats. Generic hydrogeological models will explore a range of in-stream groundwater upwelling settings in context of regional climate scenarios. Our industrial partner Hydro-Quebec needs our state of the art tools and models to monitor and predict effects of river flow modifications (and deep reservoir releases) on fish habitats (including thermal refugia) on the river ecosystems they impact. Broad environmental benefits for Canada can be expected in terms of adaptations to climate change of Boreal river ecosystem management and optimisation of future fish conservation investments, by clarifying to what extent future thermal regimes can limit the productivity or the survival of cold water species in individual rivers, as a function of its particular refugia spatial distribution.