| Title: | Simulating climate change induced thermal stress in coldwater fish habitat using SWAT Model |
| Authors: | Chambers, B.M., S.M. Pradhanang and A.J. Gold |
| Year: | 2017 |
| Journal: | Water |
| Volume (Issue): | 9(10) |
| Pages: | |
| Article ID: | 732 |
| DOI: | 10.3390/w9100732 |
| URL (non-DOI journals): | |
| Model: | SWAT |
| Broad Application Category: | hydrologic and pollutant |
| Primary Application Category: | stream and/or soil temperature assessment |
| Secondary Application Category: | climate change |
| Watershed Description: | 23 km^2 Beaver and 52 km^2 Queen Rivers, tributaries of the Wood-Pawcatuck River in southern Rhode Island, and 7 km^2 Cork Brook, located in the City of Scituate in north central Rhode Island, U.S. |
| Calibration Summary: | |
| Validation Summary: | |
| General Comments: | |
| Abstract: | Climate studies have suggested that inland stream temperatures and average streamflows
will increase over the next century in New England, thereby putting aquatic species sustained
by coldwater habitats at risk. This study uses the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to
simulate historical streamflow and stream temperatures within three forested, baseflow-driven
watersheds in Rhode Island, USA followed by simulations of future climate scenarios for comparison.
Low greenhouse gas emission scenarios are based on the 2007 International Panel on Climate Change
Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) B1 scenario and the high emissions are based on the
SRES A1fi scenario. The output data are analyzed to identify daily occurrences where brook trout
(Salvelinus fontinalis) are exposed to stressful events, defined herein as any day where Q25 or Q75
flows occur simultaneously with stream temperatures exceeding 21 C. Results indicate that under
both high- and low-emission greenhouse gas scenarios, coldwater fish species such as brook trout
will be increasingly exposed to stressful events. The percent chance of stressful event occurrence
increased by an average of 6.5% under low-emission scenarios and by 14.2% under high-emission
scenarios relative to the historical simulations. |
| Language: | English |
| Keywords: | SWAT model; coldwater habitat; stream temperature; water quality; hydrology;
climate change |