Climate change is changing the size of fishes in Michigan’s inland lakes, leaving the young and old of many species more vulnerable to predation.
Climate change is changing the size of fishes in Michigan’s inland lakes, leaving the young and old of many species more vulnerable to predation.
A new study led by the University of Michigan shows that changes in climate are also changing the size of fishes in Michigan’s inland lakes.
Using data that covered 75 years and nearly 1,500 lakes, researchers have shown that, for several species, old and young fish in 2020 were significantly smaller than their typical size in 1945.
“Climate change is altering the size of different organisms around the world, including fishes in lakes here in Michigan,” said Peter Flood, a postdoctoral research fellow at the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability, or SEAS. “And most of those changes we’re seeing in Michigan fishes are declines in size through time.”
Read More: University of Michigan
Image: Young walleye, like the one shown here in a 2016 photo, were among the 58 species-age groupings that University of Michigan researchers determined have shrunk over the last 75 years due to climate change. (Image credit: David Kenyon, State of Michigan)
