Abstract

The main aim of this PhD project is to develop population models for predicting climatic effects on brown trout (Salmo trutta), which could have applications for possible management actions in Norway.

I will use semi-time series of age-structured data assessed mostly from gillnetting surveys from multiple lake populations of brown trout in southern and central parts of Norway. The lakes are ranging across a coast-to-inland gradient including various climate aspects. I will also conduct controlled temperature-effect experiments on juvenile brown trout, from egg to alevins, in order to explore variations in early life stages of the brown trout. These experiments will contribute to a deeper knowledge about possible effects of temperature changes; help improve the models and also asses to what degree local populations of brown trout will have to undergo evolutionary changes due to the expected climate change or if there is sufficient phenotypic plasticity to deal with the expected changes.