Meeting Abstract
The impacts of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems may have important consequences for adjacent coastal and estuarine communities. Glaciers are retreating at high latitudes at an increasing rate, causing changes in habitat characteristics of estuaries including reduced temperature and increased turbidity. Habitat characteristics of estuaries are important to the success of young fishes using them as nurseries, affecting the abundance of later adult cohorts. Fundamental differences in habitat characteristics of estuaries adjacent to watersheds with varying degrees of glacier cover may affect their suitability as nursery and spawning grounds for marine fishes. The objectives of this study are to determine if fish community structure differs among watersheds that vary in their glacial influence and to determine if a change in glacial effluent impacts growth rate and mortality. I expect to see changes in community structure, mortality and growth rates in fishes as glacial influence on estuaries increases. I sampled juvenile and adult groundfishes for three summers from multiple estuaries in southeast Alaska that vary in their glacial influence. All fishes captured were identified to species, and their abundance and body length recorded. Individuals of two common species were tagged at each sampling event with a small colored dermal tag and released, and recaptures used to estimate growth and mortality rates among estuaries. If significant differences are found, this would indicate sensitivity to this direct and immediate symptom of a warming climate, warranting greater vigilance in the management and protection of these culturally, economically, and ecologically important coastal habitats.
