Influence of climate variations on Chascomús shallow lake thermal conditions and its consequences on the reproductive ecology of the Argentinian Silverside (Odontesthes bonariensis? Actinopterygii, Atherinopsidae)

MARIANO ELISIO; ALEJANDRO J. VITALE; LEANDRO A. MIRANDA

HYDROBIOLOGIA

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2014 vol. 736 p. 100 - 130

0018-8158

It is well known that water temperaturedirectly affects fish reproduction. The aim of this studywas to develop a predictive model to determine watertemperature conditions on a typical Pampas shallow lake(Chascomu´s, 35360S, 58020W) from local climatevariables (specifically air temperature and rainfall). Inaddition, this model was used to assess the variability oflocal climate and water temperature conditions in thislake over the last 47 years, and predict possible effects onpejerrey reproductive phenology.The temperaturemodelshowed a good fit demonstrating a direct influence of thelocal climate into the lake water temperature. Asconsequence of a demonstrated warming in Chascomu´sCity, an average increase of 1.4C was evident inChascomu´s lake over the analyzed period, which wasmainly due to a thermal increase during the warmerseasons (spring, summer, and autumn). This pattern ofwarming drove to a shortening in the pejerrey spawningseason length, estimating a decrease of 19 days over theperiod of 47 years. Thus, this study showed that a tightassociation between the climate variability and thechange in fish reproductive phenology can occur inspecies inhabiting shallow lakes.