In general when we think about climate change, most people think about cold water species, but warm water species could be also be affected. The Amazon River Basin is an enormous area expected to be affected by climate change; approximately 7 million km2 of dense river network with the largest number of freshwater fish species anywhere in the world. The Amazon is home to more than 2,000 freshwater fish, including highly unique, economically, and culturally important species.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenarios the Amazon will be warmer and drier in the future; this in turn is likely to lead to changes in flow regimes. Some species in the Amazon may be highly adapted to and dependent on current flow regimes, and modifications as a result of climate change may have direct consequences for breeding, migration and persistence of fish species. Currently the Brazilian Amazon has 71 threatened freshwater fish species due to the impacts of dams, pollution, mining and urbanization. There is little or no knowledge as to how sensitive these species are to climate change impacts, or how climate change may interact with other stressors to affect fish in the Amazon.

Despite the diversity of freshwater fish found in the Amazon, it is an area with very large knowledge and research gaps. To understand the potential impacts of climate change on freshwater fish in the Amazon, we created a survey to gather information from fisheries experts working in the Amazon. Our objective is to evaluate the sensitivity and vulnerability of the 71 threatened freshwater species in the Brazilian Amazon to future climate change impacts. The research is still in progress, but preliminary results suggest that the majority of threatened species will be highly sensitive to climate change impacts.

There are currently very few published research studies about the impacts of climate change on freshwater fish species in tropical areas. The results from this survey will help environmental agencies who are responsible for management and conservation of threatened fish species in Brazil.

– Renata Frederico, Visiting Researcher