Distribution of California stream fishes: influence of environmental temperature and hypoxia

Synopsis Metabolic rates of seven fish species were used to assess the importance of temperature and dissolved oxygen as factors affecting longitudinal distributions of stream fish within California drainages. Metabolic rates of all species generally increased at higher acclimation temperatures and with abrupt temperature increases. In response to low dissolved oxygen, four species showed no change in metabolic rates up to a threshold temperature where hypoxia-induced metabolic depression was apparent. These threshold temperatures were near the lethal temperatures for each species. In contrast, two species showed metabolic depressions at every temperature, whereas one showed no depression at any temperature. In general, species occupying similar longitudinal positions in California streams behaved similarly in their metabolic responses. For most species, there was good correspondence between metabolic response and relevant field observations of occurrence. In cases where our analysis predicted species presence in waters where they did not exist, other abiotic factors, such as flow rate, or biotic factors, such as predation or competition, must be considered.