{"id":39619,"date":"2023-10-10T16:46:42","date_gmt":"2023-10-10T20:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=39619"},"modified":"2023-10-11T11:29:59","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T15:29:59","slug":"warming-temperatures-bring-different-animals-to-maryland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2023\/10\/10\/warming-temperatures-bring-different-animals-to-maryland\/","title":{"rendered":"Warming Temperatures Bring Different Animals to Maryland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Climate change makes region more hospitable to some newcomers\u2014and more difficult for native species<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

White ibises have started to nest at Martin National Wildlife Refuge.<\/p><\/div>\n

A Salisbury man fishing for spotted sea trout Sept. 17 in the Chesapeake Bay pulled in a tall, silvery fish with a striking yellow underside.<\/span><\/p>\n

It turned out to be the<\/span> largest Florida pompano recorded<\/span><\/a> in the state. It was also a living indication of a warming climate.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Florida pompano is just one of multiple species of animals, largely fish and birds, that are appearing in the state more frequently at least partially as a result of climate change. Though these newcomers can increase biodiversity and generate excitement among residents and fishermen, scientists caution that they are also warning signs of a changing ecosystem.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a sign that things are changing enough to cause shifts in distribution,\u201d said Gwen Brewer, a science program manager with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources\u2019 Wildlife and Heritage Service. \u201cWe know not everything is going to adjust to those shifts in a positive way. Some species are going to be threatened by those changes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Some notable animal sightings, like the <\/span>manatee that wandered through the Bay<\/span><\/a> in August, represent one individual rather than a trend. But the sheer numbers of others<\/span> are hard to ignore.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maryland waters have seen a marked increase of fish associated with warm water such as the pompano, Atlantic cutlassfish, cobia, red drum, sheepshead, spotted sea trout and pompano dolphinfish (a relative of the mahi-mahi), said Erik Zlokovitz, DNR\u2019s recreational fisheries coordinator. Common species like the black sea bass and summer flounder are shifting northward, and a DNR pilot program is allowing watermen to trawl the<\/span> waters off Ocean City for shrimp<\/span><\/a> for the first time this fall.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Bobby Graves poses with the state record Florida pompano. Photo courtesy Bobby Graves, used with permission.<\/p><\/div>\n

Lenny Rudow, of <\/span>FishTalk Magazine<\/span>,<\/span> said there\u2019s \u201cabsolutely no question\u201d that \u201cthings are changing\u201d for fish in Maryland waters. Many fishermen are catching species they\u2019re not used to, and this August he was on a boat that caught 59 cutlassfish in three hours. Cutlassfish only began to show up in higher numbers here in 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost like the Bay is shifting into something more like the Pamlico Sound,\u201d Rudow said, referring to the estuarine lagoon in North Carolina.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jim Uphoff, a DNR fisheries biologist, said other weather patterns could be contributing to the shifting fish populations through decreased freshwater flow and higher salinity, but that these changes are \u201cfairly consistent with what you would expect from warming.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And data shows warming is taking place. Air temperatures in the state have<\/span> risen by 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit<\/span><\/a> since the start of the 20th century. DNR researchers collect data at dozens of monitoring stations across the Chesapeake Bay, and most stations record an increase of <\/span>between 1 and 2 degrees Fahrenheit<\/span><\/a> since the mid-1980s.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is these periods are warmer than normal temperatures, longer than normal, and recurring more frequently,\u201d said Tom Parham, director of DNR\u2019s Tidewater Ecosystem Assessment.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the larger numbers of warm-water fish do not typically disrupt the local food chain, the warming temperatures that attract them could present difficulties for native fish, Zlokovitz said. He\u2019s concerned that other conditions associated with warming, such as dry and hot winters, could have negative impacts on the spawning success of anadromous fish such as striped bass, white perch, shad and herring.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Long-term Chesapeake Bay water monitoring results indicate an increased frequency and severity of degraded resident striped bass habitat.<\/p><\/div>\n

Striped bass, also known as rockfish, have faced <\/span>a decline in the Bay since 2019<\/span><\/a>. Though many factors contribute to the reduction, hotter waters limit the area of the Bay that is viable for rockfish.<\/span><\/p>\n

Warmer water holds less oxygen, and the rising temperatures have created larger pockets of the Bay where striped bass are not able to survive, Parham said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maryland\u2019s streams and rivers have seen rises in temperature that exceeded those observed in air and tidal waters, said John Mullican, a program manager with DNR\u2019s freshwater fisheries program. While climate change contributes to the heated waters, so do other factors such as loss of tree canopy and larger areas of impervious surfaces that increase and warm stormwater runoff.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dan Goetz, manager of statewide operations for DNR\u2019s freshwater fisheries, said the increased temperatures haven\u2019t brought new fish into the freshwater system but have constrained the habitable zones for native fish, like brook trout.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBrook trout are already restricted to the coldest parts of the stream, so if temperatures exceed their thermal limit, they eventually die out in that area,\u201d Goetz said. \u201cThere is nowhere for them to go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On the terrestrial side, animals tend to be slow in moving to different locations, Brewer with Wildlife and Heritage Service said. But warming climates have brought changes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some birds have started breeding in the state in the past few years, due to developments that are likely linked to climate change, said Gabriel Foley, coordinator of the Maryland & DC Breeding Bird Atlas that tracks birds breeding in the state. White ibises have been seen nesting in Martin National Wildlife Refuge, and breeding anhingas have started to show up in the Patapsco Valley. Mississippi kites, a small insect-eating hawk, have nested in three Maryland counties.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other typically southern birds, like the<\/span> painted buntings<\/span><\/a> that caused a stir in 2021 or a wayward<\/span> wood stork in the C&O Canal<\/span><\/a>, have passed through the state, but don\u2019t have a breeding presence here.<\/span><\/p>\n

More noticeable than the new birds, however, is the effect that climate change is having on extant species in the state, Brewer said. Sea-level rise has contributed to habitat loss, especially for breeding birds.\u00a0 For example, there were no black skimmers recorded breeding in the state last year because of lost nesting ground.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A painted bunting eats a pokeberry in Maryland. Photo by Sherri Powers.<\/p><\/div>\n

Then, there are the pathogens that come hand-in-hand with global warming. Mosquitoes thrive in hotter temperatures and bring with them diseases like<\/span> West Nile virus<\/span><\/a>, contributing to the<\/span> decline of the ruffed grouse<\/span><\/a>. Climate change may also exacerbate the<\/span> spread of avian flu<\/span><\/a>, which continues to be<\/span> a scourge for birds globally<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

While it can be difficult at the state level to tackle <\/span>global temperature increases<\/span><\/a>, scientists say that mitigation and adaptation efforts can create better conditions for native species as the ecosystem changes.<\/span><\/p>\n

The state is <\/span>planting more than five million trees<\/span><\/a>, which help provide cooling canopy for habitats and streams and also set up long-term carbon sequestration, said Anne Hairston-Strang, the acting state forester for the Maryland Forest Service.<\/span><\/p>\n

DNR\u2019s Environmental Review Program assesses land use and development projects to avoid or mitigate impacts to the environment and wildlife, and DNR\u2019s Chesapeake & Coastal Service works to build back healthier habitats through restoration projects such as <\/span>living shorelines<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Brewer pointed to projects like the <\/span>artificial tern island built to replace lost habitat in Chincoteague Bay in 2021<\/span><\/a> as a short-term solution to keep populations going until habitat can be restored, while further efforts can aim at reducing other stressors for animals and plants.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe can usually do something about the other threats that are facing those species,\u201d Brewer said. \u201cThat\u2019s something we can focus on rather than throwing up our hands and saying, \u2018Well we can\u2019t do anything because it\u2019s climate change.\u2019 We try to make the situation as good as it can be for the species that are there while they are trying to persist in the face of changing conditions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

By Joe Zimmermann, science writer with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Climate change makes region more hospitable to some newcomers\u2014and more difficult for native species A Salisbury man fishing for spotted sea trout Sept. 17 in the Chesapeake Bay pulled in a tall, silvery fish with a striking yellow underside. It turned out to be the largest Florida pompano recorded in the state. It was also  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":250,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,11,33,13],"tags":[5142,2982,3359,5044,4987,3069],"class_list":["post-39619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-fisheries","category-the-bay","category-wildlife","tag-breeding-bird-atlas","tag-chesapeake-bay","tag-climate-change","tag-fishing","tag-florida-pompano","tag-state-fishing-record"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39619"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39635,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39619\/revisions\/39635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}