Can Arctic Char Adapt to Climate Change?
For centuries, in the remote reaches of the north, Arctic char have provided food for Canada’s Inuit. In recent decades, other North Americans have come to admire this attractive fish: up-market consumers for its taste, sport fishermen for its spirit and size, often nearly a meter long, and people at large for its appearance. The colours of the Arctic char, depending on its type and the season, can range from greens, browns, and whites to reds and golds like an autumn leaf. Char could also have a major scientific use: helping to forecast the effects of climate change. The Arctic will be among the hardest-hit areas, and char are the Arctic species par excellence. Circumpolar in distribution, they are the most prevalent and, above 75o North, the only freshwater fish. The char’s response to climate change will provide lessons applicable to other species. Figuring out that forecast is the challenge taken on by Dr. Jim Reist of the Freshwater Institute at Winnipeg, Manitoba, and colleagues
