The trophic ecology of a desert river fish assemblage: influence of season and hydrologic variability

The diets and trophic ecology of the dominant fish species from the marine coastal region of Aveiro (north-western Portugal) caught during a summer survey were studied. Mysids were the most important prey group for the fish assemblage analysed. As a consequence, there was a high dietary overlap between species and a low incidence of piscivory. Nevertheless, a clear segregation of trophic niches was observed, with one group (comprising the species Chelidonichthys cuculus, Callionymus lyra, Dicologlossa cuneata and Pomatoschistus lozanoi) showing a stronger preference for infaunal epibenthic prey, such as polychaetes and amphipods, another group (including Arnoglossus imperialis, Arnoglossus laterna, Chelidonichthys obscurus, Chelidonichthys lucernus, Echiichthys vipera, Pagellus acarne and Trisopterus luscus) preying mostly upon suprabenthic prey, mainly mysids, and a third group (Engraulis encrasicolus and Trachurus trachurus) feeding largely on planktonic prey like copepods. Some species, including A. imperialis, C. lyra, E. vipera, T. trachurus and T. luscus, showed ontogenic diet shifts that may be related to the habitat occupied by different size-classes and/or to their ability to capture prey of different size.

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Historical Changes in Large River Fish Assemblages of the Americas

Historical Changes in Large River Fish Assemblages of the Americas ◽

10.47886/9781888569728.ch1 ◽

2005 ◽

Keyword(s):

Fish Assemblage ◽

Fish Assemblages ◽

River Management ◽

Large River ◽

Large Rivers ◽

Pertinent Literature ◽

Historical Changes ◽

Time To Learn ◽

River Fish

Abstract.—This book’s objective is to document historical changes in the fish assemblages of large American rivers, and to determine patterns in and rationale for those changes. In this chapter, we review pertinent literature on large rivers and fish assemblages worldwide and briefly introduce the chapters. We expect that the information contained in this book will aid river management in general, and stimulate similar historical fish assemblage studies elsewhere. There will never be a better time to learn and understand what has been changed and to reverse or slow undesirable changes.

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Community Ecology of Stream Fishes: Concepts, Approaches, and Techniques

Community Ecology of Stream Fishes: Concepts, Approaches, and Techniques ◽

10.47886/9781934874141.ch20 ◽

2010 ◽

Keyword(s):

Fish Assemblage ◽

Fish Assemblages ◽

Stochastic Dynamics ◽

Low Flow ◽

Community Stability ◽

Discharge Data ◽

Hydrologic Variability ◽

The Stability ◽

Stream Fish Assemblages

Abstract.—Stochastic dynamics are central to theory, data analysis, and understanding in the fields of hydrology and population ecology. More importantly, hydrologic variability has been identified as a key process affecting biodiversity and coexistence in stream fish assemblages. Until recently, however, we have lacked tools by which hydrologic variability can be directly linked to measures of community stability. Herein, we show how a modification of Fourier analysis of daily average discharge data can be used to quantify aspects of hydrologic variability for three reference streams and then linked to measures of fish assemblage stability in Coweeta Creek, North Carolina; Sagehen Creek, California; and Otter Creek, Indiana) via multivariate autoregressive (MAR) models. Specifically, we define the magnitude of catastrophic variability as the standard deviation of residual flows referenced to a long-term annual trend, and individual catastrophic events as flows greater than (floods) or less than (droughts) two times this magnitude (i.e., 2 𝛔). We then directly link the magnitude of annual residual flows with MAR models that quantify the relationship between flows and the stability of fish assemblages from the same or nearby streams. Our results confirm that these streams represent a gradient in the stability properties of fish assemblages; Sagehen Creek is the most stable, whereas Otter Creek is the least stable. The timing of catastrophic high and low flows is most predictable in Sagehen Creek and least predictable in Big Raccon Creek (reference stream for Otter Creek), whereas the magnitude and frequency of catastrophic events varied in a manner less consistent with the gradient in fish community stability. Nevertheless, the stability of fish communities covaried significantly with both residual flow magnitudes (high- and low-flow events). Although this technique is not without limitations (e.g., it is most relevant to resident species), it appears to be a promising new tool for linking hydrologic variability directly to fish assemblage stability and, more broadly, for quantifying links between flow regulation and the viability of native aquatic faunas.

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Non-marine fish of the late Santonian Milk River Formation of Alberta, Canada – evidence from vertebrate microfossil localities

Vertebrate Anatomy Morphology Palaeontology ◽

10.18435/b5pp41 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

Author(s):

Don B Brinkman ◽

Andrew G. Neuman ◽

Julien Divay

Keyword(s):

Marine Fish ◽

Relative Abundance ◽

Fish Assemblage ◽

Global Temperature ◽

High Abundance ◽

Faunal Assemblage ◽

Abundance Patterns ◽

First Occurrence ◽

Milk River Formation ◽

River Fish

The diversity of fishes from the late Santonian Milk River Formation is investigated using a combined taxonomic/morphotype approach. Twenty-one taxa are present, including four elasmobranchs, seven basal actinopterygians, and of ten teleosts. The Milk River fish assemblage is more similar to assemblages from southern Utah than it is to the late Campanian assemblage of Alberta in the presence of the elasmobranch Lonchidion and a member of amiid subfamily Vidalamiinae, the relatively high abundance of the ostariophysan teleost U3/BvD, and the absence of sturgeon, Holostean A, Holostean B, and Coriops. This similarity is hypothesized to be the result of a northern shift in the distribution of these taxa during times of high global temperature, resulting in the presence of a “southern” faunal assemblage in Alberta during the late Santonian. In the relative abundance patterns of major groups of fish, the Milk River Formation assemblage is similar to late Campanian assemblages and different from those of late Maastrichtian in that amiids and lepsisoteids are of relatively low abundance. The abundance of acanthomorph teleosts in the Milk River Formation is similar to that of contemporaneous assemblages from Utah, which supports a pattern of increasing abundance of acanthomorphs from their first occurrence in non-marine vertebrate assemblages of the Western Interior in the Coniacian through to the end of the Cretaceous.

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Shift in a Large River Fish Assemblage: Body-Size and Trophic Structure Dynamics

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0124954 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. e0124954 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Kyle J. Broadway ◽

Mark Pyron ◽

James R. Gammon ◽

Brent A. Murry

Keyword(s):

Body Size ◽

Fish Assemblage ◽

Trophic Structure ◽

Large River ◽

Structure Dynamics ◽

River Fish

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Long-term Trends in the Bogue Chitto River Fish Assemblage: A 27 Year Perspective

Southeastern Naturalist ◽

10.1656/1528-7092(2005)004[0261:ltitbc]2.0.co;2 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 261-272 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Jeffrey G. Stewart ◽

Christopher S. Schieble ◽

Robert C. Cashner ◽

Valerie A. Barko

Keyword(s):

Fish Assemblage ◽

Long Term Trends ◽

River Fish

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Spatially Dependent Responses of a Large-River Fish Assemblage to Bank Stabilization and Side Channels

Transactions of the American Fisheries Society ◽

10.1080/00028487.2017.1290682 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 146 (5) ◽

pp. 967-982 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Ann Marie Reinhold ◽

Robert G. Bramblett ◽

Alexander V. Zale ◽

Geoffrey C. Poole ◽

David W. Roberts

Keyword(s):

Fish Assemblage ◽

Large River ◽

Side Channels ◽

Bank Stabilization ◽

River Fish

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Historical Changes in Large River Fish Assemblages of the Americas

Historical Changes in Large River Fish Assemblages of the Americas ◽

10.47886/9781888569728.ch21 ◽

2005 ◽

Keyword(s):

Water Pollution ◽

Best Management Practices ◽

Fish Assemblage ◽

Municipal Wastewater ◽

Fish Assemblages ◽

Primary Objective ◽

Nonpoint Sources ◽

Control Programs ◽

Before And After ◽

River Fish

Abstract.—A systematic, standardized approach to monitor fish assemblages has been applied in Ohio’s rivers since 1979. A primary objective is the assessment of changes in response to water pollution abatement and other water quality management programs. All major, nonwadeable rivers were intensively sampled using standardized electrofishing methods and a summer–early fall index period. Most rivers were sampled two or three times, before and after implementation of pollution controls at major point source discharges and best management practices for nonpoint sources. A modified and calibrated index of biotic integrity (IBI) was used to demonstrate and evaluate changes at multiple sampling locations in major river segments. An area of degradation value (ADV) and an area of attainment value (AAV) were also calculated from IBI results to demonstrate the magnitude and extent of changes in fish assemblage condition along segments and between sampling years. Positive responses in the IBI and the ADV/AAV were observed 4 to 5 years after implementing improved municipal wastewater treatment. Positive responses were much less apparent in rivers predominantly influenced by complex industrial sources, agricultural nonpoint sources, and extensive hydrologic modifications. The ADV/AAV showed incremental improvements in river fish assemblages, unlike pass/fail IBI thresholds, and tiered IBI biocriteria provided more appropriate benchmarks than chemical, physical, or qualitative biological criteria. The results show the value of standardized and intensive fish assemblage monitoring and the use of tools that reveal the extent and severity of impairments to determine the effectiveness of water pollution control programs.

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