Quantification of thermal impacts across freshwater life stages to improve temperature management for anadromous salmonids

Water temperature is the major controlling factor that shapes the physiology, behavior, and ultimately, survival of aquatic ectotherms. Here we examine temperature effects on the survival of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), a species of high economic and conservation importance. We implement a framework to assess how incremental changes in temperature impact survival across populations that is based on thermal performance models for three freshwater life stages of Chinook salmon. These temperature-dependent models were combined with local spatial distribution and phenology data to translate spatial-temporal stream temperature data into maps of life stage-specific physiological performance in space and time. Specifically, we converted temperature-dependent performance (i.e., energy used by pre-spawned adults, mortality of incubating embryos, and juvenile growth rate) into a common currency that measures survival in order to compare thermal effects across life stages. Based on t...