Global Warming : Implications for Freshwater and Marine Fish

Fish cannot regulate their body temperature and so are at the mercy of the environmental temperature. The potential impact of global warming on fish health and productivity is therefore immense, with great economic and ecological implications. A range of experts review the state of knowledge and draw important conclusions.

Global warming and climate change are growing environmental concerns which are much in the scientific, governmental and public eye. The potential impact on freshwater and marine fishes is immense, because most fish have no physiological ability to regulate their body temperature. This volume focuses on the effects of temperature at all levels of organization in fish, with particular emphasis on physiological function: cells, epithelia, organ systems, the whole organism, reproduction, behaviour, pollutant interactions, ecology and population dynamics, with each chapter written by experts in the field. Many chapters also speculate on the long-term physiological and ecological implications to fish of a 2-4°C global warming scenario. Researchers and graduate students in the areas of animal physiology and behaviour, environmental toxicology, population ecology and fisheries biology and management will find this volume of particular interest.