Climate change threatens Chinook salmon throughout their life cycle

Abstract

Lisa Crozier et al. assembled a database for eight wild populations of threatened Chinook salmon in the Salmon River Basin in order to evaluate climate impacts at all life stages, and model future population trajectories. They project that populations rapidly decline in response to increasing sea surface temperatures and conclude that dramatic increases in the number or survival of smolts are needed to overcome the negative impacts of climate change for this threatened species.