Effects of climate-induced changes in river flows on temperate seabass
Anthropogenic impacts are increasingly altering the native environment of many fishes. Developing sustainable fisheries-management practices that are capable of mitigating the detrimental effects of these changes require a good understanding of the mechanisms driving the dynamics of fish populations and their interactions with the changing environment. Rivers are known to be important in the ecology of coastal marine fishes: first, rivers change coastal water flows and the transport of fish larvae, and second, rivers function as nurseries for juvenile fish. The temperate seabass Lateolabrax japonicus is an important coastal fishery species in Japan, which utilizes both rivers and the sea as nurseries. To predict how this species will be affected by the anticipated degradation of river nurseries and changes in river discharge brought about by human activities, we develop and analyze a model of its population dynamics. It is expected that this study will help elucidate the role of rivers in the population dynamics of estuarine fishes.