Climate driven changes in fish recruitment, survival, and abundance are complicating efforts to manage fisheries. Researchers on this project aim to quantify the responses of fish to climate change in Midwestern lakes and to identify the local factors that can affect those responses. This project is led by Gretchen Hansen of the University of Minnesota with several other researchers and partners, including the Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources. 

Last spring, the project team published a dataset of daily surface temperatures for more than 185,000 lakes in the U.S. These data were estimated using a deep learning model and will help identify priority lakes for implementing habitat protection and restoration activities. More recently, in April, researchers published a paper on predicting climate change impacts on fish using physiologically-guided species abundance models. Gretchen presented on these findings at the Species on the Move Conference in May 2023. 

Learn more about Gretchen’s research into Midwestern lakes in this short video from the University of Minnesota.