Goldstein, Allyson
Richeter, Ann and Steven A. Kolmes. “Maximum Temperature Limits for Chinook, Coho, and Chum Salmon, and Steelhead Trout in the Pacific Northwest.” Reviews in Fisheries Science 13 (2005): 23-49. (reviewed by Allyson Goldstein)
Summary:
Studies have shown that high water temperature has a negative effect on salmon and trout in the Columbia River. Richter and Kolmes' study reviews the current literature in order to determine how water temperature affects salmon population, specific numerical temperature criteria for salmon recovery efforts. Temperature change is particularly important to salmonids because while they can survive in warmer temperatures to a certain degree, living in warmer water makes them more susceptible to pollution and other environmental challenges.
This article, which appears in a peer reviewed journal, summarizes the wide body of data available from various sources about the effects of water temperature change on salmon, and discusses the specific effects on different species, and during different life stages. Sources for the article include EPA reports, and the Pacific Northwest Salmon Habitat Indicator Work Group (PNSHIWG).
The report is divided into various sections based on the life stages of each species of fish.
In the smoltification phases, temperatures above 12 degrees Celsius had a negative effect on steelhead trout, and temperatures about 15 degrees Celsius had a negative impact on salmon smolts.
In addition to water temperature's direct results on salmonids, it can also alter how different toxins affect salmon and the chemical composition of the water in general. The article concludes that even though maximum water temperature analysis is imperative in creating policies to protect salmon, in order for EPA and other federal agencies to create policies that will truly lead to salmon recovery, they must first examine the ethics behind such policies, and do further research to explore how other factors affect salmonid populations.
The article contains numerous tables and a very extensive bibliography.
Critique:
This article is particularly useful because it reviews such a wide body of previous literature on the subject of how temperature changes affect salmon population in the Columbia River Basin, and in the Pacific Northwest in general. For researchers interested in the effects of water temperature on salmonids, the bibliography alone offers an invaluable resource. However, the article is not very readable, and so it might be prudent to use the bibliography to find other, clearer sources. The article is readily available online and at a variety of libraries.
Though the article provides very specific, numerical data, it does not describe the methodology that the other studies it reviews used for finding that data. Researchers would most likely want to examine the original studies, as well as the compilation.
Robert D. Clark Honors College, University of Oregon
HC 441: Science Colloquium, Columbia River Ecology
Fall term, 2005
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