Prioritizing aquatic conservation areas using spatial patterns and partitioning of fish community diversity in a near-natural temperate basin

Abstract The scale of impact that the São Francisco River transposition project will have on the drainage basins ichthyofauna is still unclear, however, changes in the fish community diversity and abundance is probable. Surveys and registries of the fish fauna within key systems of the catchment basins are priority actions for the conservation of the aquatic diversity. This study conducted a taxonomic survey of the Epitácio Pessoa (Boqueirão municipality) and Argemiro de Figueiredo (Itatuba municipality), reservoirs ichthyofauna, both belonging to the Paraíba do Norte River basin, important socioeconomic and environmental systems for the transposition project. Monthly sampling was carried out between October/2014 to September/2015 in the upstream and downstream zones of the reservoirs. The specimens were collected using dip nets, drag nets, and sieves, and placed on ice in the field. Later in the laboratory, they were transferred to 10% formaldehyde and then preserved in 70% alcohol. A total of 2,328 specimens were collected representing five orders, 14 families, and 31 species in both systems. At the upstream zones 2057 specimens were collected representing 17 species, and at the downstream zones 271 specimens were collected representing 24 species. Of the 31 species recorded, 13 species are endemic to watersheds that drain rivers from the Brazilian semi-arid region, and seven species (Apareiodon davisi, Characidium bimaculatum, Hypostomus pusarum, Parotocinclus jumbo, P. spilosoma, Pimelodella enochi, and Prochilodus brevis) are endemic to the Mid-Northeastern Caatinga Ecoregion (MNCE). Among the latter, Parotocinclus spilosoma and Pimelodella enochi are endemic to the Paraíba do Norte River. Apareiodon davisi is classified as Endangered according to the current published Brazil’s official list of endangered species of fish and aquatic invertebrates. This pre-transposition ichthyofaunistic survey will serve as a basis for future post-transposition analyzes, considering this action will change the scope of the ecosystems diversity.

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Relationship between fish community diversity and environmental factors in the Lianjiang River, Guangdong, China

Acta Ecologica Sinica ◽

10.5846/stxb201108041142 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 32 (18) ◽

pp. 5795-5805

Author(s):

李捷 LI Jie ◽

李新辉 LI Xinhui ◽

贾晓平 JIA Xiaoping ◽

谭细畅 TAN Xichang ◽

王超 WANG Chao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Environmental Factors ◽

Fish Community ◽

Community Diversity

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Long-term impacts of invasive round goby Neogobius melanostomus on fish community diversity and diets in the St. Clair River, Michigan

Journal of Great Lakes Research ◽

10.1016/j.jglr.2015.05.004 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 41 (3) ◽

pp. 862-872 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Erin M. Burkett ◽

David J. Jude

Keyword(s):

Fish Community ◽

Round Goby ◽

Neogobius Melanostomus ◽

Community Diversity

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Fish community assessment with eDNA metabarcoding: effects of sampling design and bioinformatic filtering

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ◽

10.1139/cjfas-2016-0306 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 74 (9) ◽

pp. 1362-1374 ◽

Cited By ~ 80

Author(s):

Nathan T. Evans ◽

Yiyuan Li ◽

Mark A. Renshaw ◽

Brett P. Olds ◽

Kristy Deiner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Spatial Distribution ◽

Species Richness ◽

Spatial Resolution ◽

Spatial Patterns ◽

Water Body ◽

Fish Community ◽

Sampling Design ◽

Environmental Dna ◽

Body Type ◽

Multiple Samples

Species richness is a metric of biodiversity that represents the number of species present in a community. Traditional fisheries assessments that rely on capture of organisms often underestimate true species richness. Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding is an alternative tool that infers species richness by collecting and sequencing DNA present in the ecosystem. Our objective was to determine how spatial distribution of samples and “bioinformatic stringency” affected eDNA-metabarcoding estimates of species richness compared with capture-based estimates in a 2.2 ha reservoir. When bioinformatic criteria required species to be detected only in a single sample, eDNA metabarcoding detected all species captured with traditional methods plus an additional 11 noncaptured species. However, when we required species to be detected with multiple markers and in multiple samples, eDNA metabarcoding detected only seven of the captured species. Our analysis of the spatial patterns of species detection indicated that eDNA was distributed relatively homogeneously throughout the reservoir, except near the inflowing stream. We suggest that interpretation of eDNA metabarcoding data must consider the potential effects of water body type, spatial resolution, and bioinformatic stringency.

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Using eDNA Metabarcoding to Monitor Changes in Fish Community Composition After Barrier Removal

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution ◽

10.3389/fevo.2021.629217 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Teja P. Muha ◽

Deiene Rodriguez-Barreto ◽

Richard O'Rorke ◽

Carlos Garcia de Leaniz ◽

Sofia Consuegra

Keyword(s):

Community Composition ◽

Fish Community ◽

Anguilla Anguilla ◽

Environmental Dna ◽

Life Cycles ◽

Population Connectivity ◽

Community Diversity ◽

Additional Species ◽

Fish Community Composition ◽

Barrier Removal

Artificial instream barriers are a major cause of habitat fragmentation that reduce population connectivity and gene flow by limiting fish movements. To mitigate their impacts, obsolete barriers are increasingly been removed worldwide, but few barrier removal projects are monitored. We employed a powerful Before-After-Downstream-Upstream (BADU) approach using environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding to examine the effects on fish community composition of removing a weir in the river Lugg (England) that had been suggested to have a detrimental effect on salmonid migration. We found no change in fish community diversity or relative abundance after the removal above or below the weir, but detected an important effect of sampling season, likely related to the species' life cycles. eDNA detected nine fish species that were also identified by electrofishing sampling and one additional species (Anguilla anguilla) that was missed by traditional surveys. Our results suggest that monitoring of barrier removal projects should be carried out to ensure that any ecological benefits are properly documented and that eDNA metabarcoding is a sensitive technique to monitor the effects of barrier removal.

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