Warming rivers could wipe out salmon

A study by the university's researchers, published in the Nature Climate Change journal, looked at how Chinook salmon in British Colombia’s Quinsam River will handle rising water temperatures in coming decades, the London Free Press reports.

Researchers discovered young salmon raised in warmer streams could adapt to rising temperatures, but only to a certain point. Once water temperatures rose above 24.5 C, the salmon died from mass heart attacks.

And given that climate change experts predict the temperature of the Quinsam could hit 24.5 C by 2100, that spells big trouble for pacific salmon populations, already reeling from decades of decline.