Geomorphological characteristics of the Wabash River,USA: Influence on fish assemblages

River hydrogeomorphology is a potential predictor of ecosystem and assemblage variation. We tested for fish assemblage variation as a function of hydrogeomorphology in a Midwestern US large river, the Wabash River. Fish data were classified by taxonomy and traits and we tested if assemblages varied with river hydrogeomorphology or river distance, defined into 10‐km distinct reaches. Three unique geomorphological units, Functional Process Zones (FPZ), were identified using an ArcGIS hydrogeomorphic model, based primarily on channel width, floodplain width, and down valley slope. Five locations were identified as FPZ A with narrow stream channel, high down valley slope, and an expansive floodplain. Ten locations were identified as FPZ B with a wide river channel and wide floodplain. Thirty‐five locations were identified as FPZ C with wide river channel and a constrained floodplain. The sites were categorized into three stream orders: 5, 6, and 7. We found hydrogeomorphology classified by unique FPZs or by river distance influenced taxonomic and functional fish assemblages for the Wabash River. There was high overlap among fish occurrences among FPZs, but nine species resulted as significant indicators of specific FPZs. Five traits were significant indicators of FPZs: an intermediate Swim Factor score, medium tolerance to silt, small‐large stream size preference, and two Shape Factor categories. Our conclusions are that fish assemblages respond strongly to local geomorphology and river distance, fitting the riverine ecosystem synthesis and the river continuum concept.     

二滩水电站水库形成后鱼类种类组成的演变

本文对二滩水库建成前后,雅砻江下游长约380km河段的鱼类种类结构、生态类群及相对资源量的变化进行了研究。结果表明水库建成后不同区段的鱼类种类结构发生了变化,喜栖静水和缓流环境的种类逐渐在库区占主导地位,适应急流环境的种类主要分布于库尾和支流等局部水域中,一些外来种已经定居并在某些水域形成了优势种群。在水库建成后的头几年,由于鱼类种群密度增加还导致了渔业捕捞量大幅度上升。针对上述变化,结合雅砻江梯级电站建设可能带来的进一步环境改变,作者提出了建立自然保护江段、开展人工繁殖放流、进行水库生态调度以及防止外来种入侵等措施和建议。     

河流鱼类分类群和功能群的纵向梯度格局——以新安江流域为例

确定鱼类群落的空间格局是保护和管理河流鱼类多样性的基础。尽管河流鱼类分类群（基于物种组成）的纵向梯度格局已得到大量报道,但其功能群（基于功能特征）的空间格局研究较少。以皖南山区新安江为研究流域,沿其"正源-下游"梯度共设置27个调查样点,分别于2017年5月和10月完成2次调查取样,着重研究了鱼类分类群和功能群结构的纵向梯度格局及其形成机制。共采集鱼类44种,可分为5个运动功能群和4个营养功能群,构成14个"营养-运动"复合功能群。双因素交互相似性分析结果显示,鱼类分类群和功能群均随河流级别显著变化,但两者均无显著的季节变化;根据相似性百分比分析,由1级至3级河流,数量优势物种和功能群的空间变化主要呈嵌套格局,而由3级至5级河流其变化主要呈周转格局。方差分解结果显示,局域栖息地、陆地景观和支流空间位置3类解释变量对分类群和功能群空间变化的解释率分别为33.6%和38.5%,其中,分类群受局域栖息地和支流空间位置变量的显著影响,而功能群受局域栖息地和陆地景观变量的显著影响。研究表明,沿着新安江的"上游-下游"纵向梯度,鱼类分类群和功能群的空间格局基本一致,但两者的形成机制不同：分类群的纵向梯度变化受环境过滤和扩散过程的联合影响,而功能群则主要受环境过滤影响。     

Temporal changes in replicated experimental stream fish assemblages: predictable or not?

Summary 1. Natural aquatic communities or habitats cannot be fully replicated in the wild, so little is known about how initially identical communities might change over time, or the extent to which observed changes in community structure are caused by internal factors (such as interspecific interactions or traits of individual species) versus factors external to the local community (such as abiotic disturbances or invasions of new species).
2. We quantified changes in seven initially identical fish assemblages, in habitats that were as similar as possible, in seminatural artificial streams in a 388-day trial (May 1998 to May 1999), and compared the change to that in fish assemblages in small pools of a natural stream during a year. The experimental design excluded floods, droughts, immigration or emigration. The experimental fish communities diverged significantly in composition and exhibited dissimilar trajectories in multivariate species space. Divergence among the assemblages increased from May through August, but not thereafter.
3. Differences among the experimental assemblages were influenced by differences that developed during the year in algae cover and in potential predation (due to differential survival of sunfish among units).
4. In the natural stream, fish assemblages in small pools changed more than those in the experimental units, suggesting that in natural assemblages external factors exacerbated temporal variation.
5. Our finding that initially identical assemblages, isolated from most external factors, would diverge in the structure of fish assemblages over time suggests a lack of strong internal, deterministic controls in the assemblages, and that idiosyncratic or stochastic components (chance encounters among species; vagaries in changes in the local habitat) even within habitat patches can play an important role in assemblage structure in natural systems.     

The role of trait‐based approaches in understanding stream fish assemblages

1. The use of trait‐based approaches to examine the ecology of stream fish assemblages is increasing. However, selection of traits that will be useful in testing spatial or temporal hypotheses about ecological organisation is currently limited by availability of data, rather than empirical evaluation. 2. We analysed two data sets of stream fish assemblages to compare taxonomy and trait‐based approaches. The Wabash River temporal data set is based on 25 years of boat electrofishing collections over a 230‐km river distance. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management data set of stream collections in the state of Indiana was selected to represent a spatial database. We compared several trait‐based approaches: reproductive guilds, life history variables, biomonitoring metrics, ecosystem‐based functional guilds and feeding and ecosystem interaction guilds. 3. Analyses of fish assemblages that are designed to detect how environmental variation structures fish assemblages can expect similar results using taxonomic or trait‐based approaches. Results of trait‐based approaches will vary according to the spatial extent of the region and the number of unique entities of trait groups for a given data set. However, taxonomic analyses accounted for more variation than any trait‐based analyses.     

Subtroprical wetland fish assemblages and changing salinity regimes: Implications for everglades restoration

During the 1960s, water management practices resulted in the conversion of the wetlands that fringe northeastern Florida Bay (USA) from freshwater/oligohaline herbaceous marshes to dwarf red mangrove forests. Coincident with this conversion were several ecological changes to Florida Bay’s fauna, including reductions in the abundances of top trophic-level consumers: piscivorous fishes, alligators, crocodiles, and wading birds. Because these taxa rely on a common forage base of small demersal fishes, food stress has been implicated as playing a role in their respective declines. In the present study, we monitored the demersal fishes seasonally at six sites over an 8-year time period. During monitoring, extremely high rainfall conditions occurred over a 3.5-year period leading to salinity regimes that can be viewed as “windows” to the area’s natural past and future restored states. In this paper, we: (1) examine the changes in fish communities over the 8-year study period and relate them to measured changes in salinity; (2) make comparisons among marine, brackish and freshwater demersal fish communities in terms of species composition, density, and biomass; and (3) discuss several implications of our findings in light of the intended and unintended water management changes that are planned or underway as part of Everglades restoration. Results suggest the reduction in freshwater flow to Florida Bay over the last several decades has reduced demersal fish populations, and thus prey availability for apex consumers in the coastal wetlands compared to the pre-drainage inferred standard. Furthermore, greater discharge of freshwater toward Florida Bay may result in the re-establishment of pre-1960s fauna, including a more robust demersal-fish community that should prompt increases in populations of several important predatory species.     

Geomorphology and fish assemblages in a Piedmont river basin, U.S.A.

1. We investigated linkages between fishes and fluvial geomorphology in 31 wadeable streams in the Etowah River basin in northern Georgia, U.S.A. Streams were stratified into three catchment sizes of approximately 15, 50 and 100 km², and fishes and geomorphology were sampled at the reach scale (i.e. 20–40 times stream width). 2. Non‐metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) identified 85% of the among‐site variation in fish assemblage structure and identified strong patterns in species composition across sites. Assemblages shifted from domination by centrarchids, and other pool species that spawn in fine sediments and have generalised food preferences, to darter‐cyprinid‐redhorse sucker complexes that inhabit riffles and runs, feed primarily on invertebrates, and spawn on coarser stream beds. 3. Richness and density were correlated with basin area, a measure of stream size, but species composition was best predicted (i.e. |r| between 0.60–0.82) by reach‐level geomorphic variables (stream slope, bed texture, bed mobility and tractive force) that were unrelated to stream size. Stream slope was the dominant factor controlling stream habitat. Low slope streams had smaller bed particles, more fines in riffles, lower tractive force and greater bed mobility compared with high slope streams. 4. Our results contrast with the ‘River Continuum Concept’ which argues that stream assemblages vary predictably along stream size gradients. Our findings support the ‘Process Domains Concept’, which argues that local‐scale geomorphic processes determine the stream habitat and disturbance regimes that influence stream communities.     

Regionally nested patterns of fish assemblages in floodplain lakes of the Magdalena river (Colombia)

We investigated if fish assemblages in neotropical floodplain lakes (cienagas) exhibit nestedness, and thus offer support to the managers of natural resources of the area for their decision making. The location was floodplain lakes of the middle section of the Magdalena river, Colombia. We applied the nested subset analysis for the series of 30 cienagas (27 connected to the main river and three isolated). All fish were identified taxonomically in the field and the matrix for presence-absence in all the lakes was used for the study of the pattern of nestedness. The most diverse order was Characiformes (20 species), followed by Siluriformes (19 species). Characidae and Loricaridae were the richest families. The species found in all the lakes studied were migratory species (17), and sedentary species (33). Two species (Caquetaia kraussii and Cyphocharax magdalenae) were widespread across the cienagas archipelago (100% of incidence). Nestedness analysis showed that the distribution of species over the spatial gradient studied (840 km) is significantly nested. The cienagas deemed the most hospitable were Simiti, El Llanito, and Canaletal. Roughly, 13 out of the 50 species caught show markedly idiosyncratic distributions. The resulting dataset showed a strong pattern of nestedness in the distribution of Magdalenese fishes, and differed significantly from random species assemblages. Out of all the measurements taken in the cienagas, only the size (area) and local richness are significantly related to the range of order of nested subset patterns (r=-0.59 and -0.90, respectively, at p < 0.01). Differential species extinction is suggested as the cause of a nested species assemblage, when the reorganized matrix of species occurring in habitat islands is correlated with the island area. Our results are consistent with this hypothesis.     

Within and between day variability in coral reef fish assemblages: Implications for fish community surveys

Coral reef ecosystems are under increasing anthropogenic pressures making it ever more important to monitor changes in fish communities to implement appropriate management. In contrast to long-term spatial and temporal variation which has been extensively documented, little work has been carried out to identify variability in fish assemblages on short time scales, with few studies testing patterns of fish assemblages between and within days. Here we investigated the diurnal changes in species richness, relative abundance and assemblage composition in a shallow coral reef fish community in Egypt. To do so, a section of coral reef was filmed during the morning (0600 h), midday (1000 and 1400 h) and afternoon (1800 h) over eleven days. Dusk (0600 h) and dawn samples (1800 h) showed higher species richness compared to late morning (1000 h) and mid-day samples (1400 h) and borderline significantly higher numbers of total individuals, likely associated with feeding activity and predator avoidance. Assemblage composition varied across days and time-of-day, showing greater variability during dusk and dawn associated with a transition between day-time and night-time assemblages. Our results have implications for designing coral reef fish surveys, emphasising that short-term changes in fish communities should be considered when designing experiments to monitor fish assemblages over time. Where possible, we suggest increasing replication within sites and time scales or randomising data within a specific time window at all sites, looking to exclude dusk and dawn.     

Comparing the fish assemblages and food‐web structures of large floodplain rivers

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Urbanization,sedimentation, and the homogenization of fish assemblages in the Etowah River Basin,USA

We tested the hypothesis that urbanization alters stream sediment regimes and homogenizes fish assemblages in 30 sub-basins of the Etowah River. Sediment variables included average particle size (mean phi) of the stream bed, percent fines (<2 mm) in riffles, and baseflow turbidity (NTU). Homogenization was quantified as ratios of endemic to cosmopolitan species richness (E_r:C_r) and abundance (E_a:C_a). High NTU and fine stream beds were associated with homogenized assemblages (i.e., lower E:C ratios). Mean phi and NTU were significantly correlated with E:C ratios (r = –0.74 to –0.76) and, when combined using multiple regression, accounted for 73% of the variance in ratios. Stream slope strongly covaried with mean phi (r = –0.92) and percent fines in riffles (r = –0.79), but multiple regression models showed that urbanized sites had finer beds and riffles than predicted by slope alone. Urban land cover was the primary predictor of NTU (r ² = 0.42) and, combined with slope in multiple regression, explained 51% of the variance in NTU. Our results indicate that stream slope is a background variable predicting particle size and E:C ratios in these streams. Urbanization disrupts these relationships by transforming clear streams with coarse beds into turbid streams with finer beds. These conditions favor cosmopolitan species, ultimately homogenizing fish assemblages. Bed texture was linked to urbanization; however, NTU was the best indicator of urban impacts because it was statistically independent from slope.     

A comparison of flooded forest and floating meadow fish assemblages in an upper Amazon floodplain

Matched sets of gillnets of different mesh-sizes were used to evaluate the degree to which contiguous and connected flooded forest and floating meadow habitats are characterized by distinct fish faunas during the flooding season in the Peruvian Amazon. For fishes between 38–740 mm standard length ( L _S) (the size range captured by the gear), an overriding pattern of faunal similarity emerged between these two habitats. The mean species richness, diversity, abundance, fish mass, mean and maximum L _S, and maximum mass did not differ significantly between flooded forest and floating meadows. Species abundances followed a log-normal distribution in which three species accounted for 60–70% of the total abundance in each habitat. Despite these similarities, multivariate analyses demonstrated subtle differences in species composition between flooded forest and adjacent floating macrophytes. In addition, the absolute number of species was higher in flooded forest, reflecting a higher percentage of rare species. The day–night species turnover was found to be greater in flooded forests than floating meadows. Further, nocturnal samples had higher abundances and greater species richness than diurnal samples in both habitats. Differences in habitat structural complexity between flooded forest and floating meadows may result in a higher abundance and species richness of day-active species in floating meadows.     

Length–weight relationships for five fish species from the middle reaches of the Yangtze River,China

Length–weight relationships (LWRs) for five fish species which were captured by trap‐nets and gillnets (major mesh size: 1–10 cm) from the middle Yangtze River, China (29°47′ – 29°26′N; 112°51′ – 113°08′E) were determined in September 2017. These were Acheilognathus hypselonotus (Bleeker, 1871), Culter oxycephaloides Kreyenberg & Pappenheim, 1908, Distoechodon tumirostris Peters, 1881, Sarcocheilichthys nigripinnis (Günther, 1873) and Micropercops swinhonis (Günther, 1873). The LWRs were estimated using the logarithmic form of the formula W  =  a  ×  L^b. The b value ranged from 2.879 for A. hypselonotus to 3.285 for M. swinhonis. LWRs for four fish species and new maximum lengths for three species are presented to FishBase for the first time.     

Floodplain lake fish assemblages in the Amazon River: directions in conservation biology

The Neotropical region is renowned for its high biodiversity, and the Amazon River basin contains the highest number of fish species of any river system in the world. In recent years, habitat fragmentation and exploitation of biotic resources have threatened biological integrity and provoked to need for sustainable management and conservation of the Amazon River system. We studied 36 floodplain lakes along 2000 km of the Amazon River. The fish assemblages associated with flood forests are moderately diverse, with low species dominance and reduced populations. To detect nestedness of fish assemblage composition in floodplain lakes, a nested subset analysis was performed on species presence–absence. The incidence matrix (species × lakes) was maximally packed using the Nestedness Temperature Calculator software. The results of ranking lakes and species allow us to establish targets for conservation. Such strategy for sustainable management should be focused on maintaining the Amazonian biodiversity.     

Changes in tropical fish assemblages associated with small-scale fisheries: a case study in the Pacific off central Mexico

Information from artisanal marine fisheries inColima, Mexico is analyzed to find evidence ofchange in the composition of fish assemblagesresulting from fishing pressure. Catchcomposition from up to 20 boats per day, during2 to 6 days a month, were recorded from 1983 to1998. Stability of the species composition wasanalyzed using rank correlation methods, andmeasures of diversity (specific richness,Shannon-Wiener index, evenness) were estimatedfrom data. The resulting time-series wereanalyzed to detect trends. No significantdifferences were found in the number of speciescaught by month nor were significant trends indiversity detected. The composition of the fishassemblages is dynamic. The presence ofpersistent and resilient species that definedthe values obtained of diversity and evennesswas detected, but did not determine thestructure of the community, which is apparentlydefined by other factors. The changes incomposition of the catch probably are aconsequence of environmental fluctuations andrandom events, and not a direct consequence offishing pressures on the fish community.     

Spatial and seasonal patterns of fish assemblages in mountain streams of the Ren River,southwest China

The spatial–temporal patterns of fish assemblages in lotic systems can provide useful information in developing effective conservation measures. This study aimed to explore the spatial and seasonal changes in fish assemblages and their association with environmental factors in mountain streams of the Ren River, southwest China. Field investigations were conducted at 18 sites during the rainy and dry seasons in 2017. A total of 1,330 individuals, belonging to three orders, eight families, 19 genera, and 21 species, were collected. Analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) showed that the structure of fish assemblages varied significantly at the spatial scale, but not at the seasonal scale. In low‐order sites, fish assemblages were mainly dominated by cold‐water and rheophilic species (e.g., Rhynchocypris oxycephalus, Scaphesthes macrolepis, Metahomaloptera omeiensis, and Gnathopogon herzensteini), while those in high‐order sites were predominated by warm‐water and eurytopic or stagnophilic species (e.g., Squalidus argentatus, Hemiculter leucisculus, and Zacco platypus). Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that the fish assemblages were structured by a combination of large‐scale landscape factors (e.g., altitude and C‐link) and small‐scale habitat features (e.g., channel width, water temperature, and depth). Among these factors, landscape had the greatest influence on fish assemblages, while local habitat variables were less important or were only significant in certain seasons.     

崇明岛内河夏季鱼类群落组成及分布特征

崇明岛为世界最大的河口冲积沙岛,岛内河网水系发达。2018年6月,选择崇明岛内主要代表性河道包括北横引河、南横引河和竖河（庙港、堡镇港、八滧港）,设置16个固定站点,对内河鱼类开展了拖网调查,分析了崇明岛内河夏季鱼类群落组成及分布特征。调查期间共采集到鱼类4417尾,分属6目9科30种,主要为鲤形目鲤科鱼类;其中,淡水鱼类27种,洄游鱼类2种,近海鱼类1种。从空间分布来看,北横引河记录鱼类20种,南横引河记录鱼类17种,竖河记录鱼类18种,不同河道鱼类种类组成及优势种特征存在明显差异,其共有优势种为鲫Carassius auratus、似鳊Pseudobrama simoni和翘嘴红鲌Erythroculter ilishaeformis,部分种类只在特定的河段有记录。北横引河各站点平均物种数、丰度和生物量均高于南横引河和竖河,但3类河道间不存在显著差异（P>0.05）;主要优势种鲫、翘嘴红鲌和似鳊平均体长均以北横引河为最大,且在南横引河与北横引河中的个体体长均存在极显著差异（P<0.01）。聚类和排序分析结果表明,北横引河和南横引河鱼类组成差异较大,而竖河介于两者之间。相似性分析的结果也表明,南、北横引河鱼类群落结构差异极显著（R=0.524,P=0.008）,且这两组间鱼类种类组成的平均相异性最高,为43.92%,造成两组间差异的主要物种有10种（贡献率均大于5%）。综合来看,崇明岛内河鱼类群落组成与分布特征不同于一般的内陆河流,而具有河口型岛屿的特点。未来需要在长期监测基础上,综合多种因素,对崇明岛内河鱼类组成、分布、变化趋势及内在机理开展系统研究。     

The spatial scale of homogenisation and differentiation in Chihuahuan Desert fish assemblages

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Temporal variability in fish assemblages from disturbed and undisturbed streams

Fish assemblages were sampled by electrofishingover a two- to ten-year period in undisturbedand anthropogenically disturbed South Carolinacoastal plain streams. Jaccard similarity,Bray–Curtis similarity, and Spearman rankcorrelations among samples collected from thesame sites over time were significantly greaterat undisturbed sites than at disturbed sites,suggesting greater fish assemblage persistenceand stability at the undisturbed sites. TheIndex of Biotic Integrity (IBI) also exhibitedsignificantly less variation over time atundisturbed sites than at disturbed sites.Physical habitat structure changed more overtime at disturbed sites than at undisturbedsites, and this variability was directlyrelated to temporal variability in fishassemblage structure. Comparisons betweenmultiple and single pass electrofishing samplessuggested that only a small proportion of thetemporal variability observed at the studysites was caused by inefficient sampling.Assessment of temporal variation in fishassemblage structure can serve as an indicatorof environmental disturbance and facilitate thedistinction of substantive ecological changefrom normal background variation.     

Diel variation in food intake and diet composition of three native fish species in floodplain lagoons of the Macintyre River,Australia

The feeding periodicity of three species of fishes in floodplain lagoons of the Macintyre River varied during 24 h cycles, however, peak feeding activity (around midday and late afternoon) was similar among the species studied, despite differences in their trophic position. In contrast, sampling season and site seemed to have a stronger effect on the composition of the diet than time of day. These findings have implications for studies of trophic dynamics and food web structure in floodplain lagoons.