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Résumé :
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Temporal data series of water temperature collected at various locations in the Upper Soča river basin, a pristine area in Slovenia, from 1996 to 2022, were analyzed to assess any trends as potential effects of the global change. Different temperature metrics were calculated to study more especially eventual impacts on trout species known as present in the target sites: the endemic marble trout (Salmo marmoratus), the introduced common trout (Salmo trutta) and hybrid trout (S. marmoratus x S. trutta). Significant trends were observed in more than half of the streams considered, indicating a general warming of water temperatures across the entire Upper Soča basin. The high regional coherence found for streams in the three watersheds (Soča, Bača and Idrijca) studied suggested regional synchrony and an overall predominant climatic influence. However, a greater variation was observed in spring and summer, suggesting the implications of additional local factors. The majority of the monitored sites (n = 18 out of 25) experienced an increase in the annual mean temperature (+ 0.04 °C per year on average), especially in summer (+0.1 °C per year on average for 19 sites) when flows were lower. Thermal conditions remained favourable for salmonids in all sites. However, temperatures above 15 °C or even 19 °C are expected to be increasingly recorded, enhancing periods with stressful conditions for salmonids, at first for the endemic S. marmoratus.
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