Fish Assemblages in Three Tidal Saltmarsh and Mangrove Flats in Temperate NSW, Australia: A Comparison Based on Species Diversity and Abundance

2006 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debashish Mazumder ◽  
Neil Saintilan ◽  
Robert J. Williams
2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janette Noveras ◽  
Kedma C. Yamamoto ◽  
Carlos E.C. Freitas

We evaluated diversity and distribution of fish species in two habitats: flooded forest and open water of lakes of Rio Negro. Each of four lakes within the Anavilhanas Archipelago was sampled three times from 2009-2010. Species diversity generally was higher in flooded forests and at night, according to correspondence analysis. Predators were most active at night, but showed no preference between the flooded forest and open water habitats. Omnivores, filter feeders, and detritivores were most active during the day.


Author(s):  
Sasha K Whitmarsh ◽  
Greg M Barbara ◽  
James Brook ◽  
Dimitri Colella ◽  
Peter G Fairweather ◽  
...  

Abstract Water resources are becoming increasingly scarce due to population growth and global changes in weather patterns. Desalination plants that extract freshwater from brackish or seawater are already being used worldwide, with many new plants being developed and built. The waste product from the extraction processes has an elevated salt concentration and can potentially cause substantial impacts to local marine flora and fauna. The present study assesses the impact of saline waste from a 100 GL/year desalination plant on southern Australian temperate fish assemblages, using baited remote underwater video. The study compared four reference sites to the impact site (desalination outfall) and found no evidence that the saline waste was having a detrimental effect on fish assemblages in proximity to the outfall, with species diversity and abundance comparable to those observed at reference sites. However, species diversity and abundance varied across geographical location, protection from fishing pressure, and reef type. Our study is one of the few assessing the ecological impacts of saline waste discharged from a large desalination plant and shows no decrease in fish diversity or abundance, which is the response typically associated with the negative impacts of anthropogenic activities on fish assemblages.


Ecography ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (7) ◽  
pp. 1064-1076 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Brucet ◽  
Ignasi Arranz ◽  
Thomas Mehner ◽  
Christine Argillier ◽  
Meryem Beklioğlu ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin L. Jones ◽  
Lina M. Nordlund ◽  
Richard K. F. Unsworth ◽  
Narriman S. Jiddawi ◽  
Johan S. Eklöf

Seagrasses – a group of foundation species in coastal ecosystems – provide key habitat for diverse and abundant faunal assemblages and support numerous ecosystem functions and services. However, whether the habitat role of seagrasses is influenced by seagrass diversity, by dominant species or both, remains unclear. To that end, we sought to investigate the specific seagrass characteristics (e.g., species diversity, seagrass traits) that influence tropical fish assemblages, and place this in the context of small-scale fishery use. We surveyed seagrass variables at 55 plots, nested within 12 sites around Zanzibar (Tanzania) in the Western Indian Ocean, and used Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV) systems to assess fish assemblages across plots. Using linear mixed models, we reveal that seagrass structural complexity and depth were the best predictors of fish abundance, with higher abundance occurring in deeper meadows or meadows with high canopy, leaf length and number of leaves per shoot. Moreover, an interaction between seagrass cover and land-use was the best predictor of fish species richness, where sites closer to human impacts were less affected by cover than sites with lower human impact. Overall, models with seagrass species richness or functional diversity as predictors poorly explained fish assemblages. Fish taxa that were important for small-scale fishery sectors (e.g., emperors, snappers, rabbitfish, and parrotfish) were primarily driven by seagrass structural complexity. Our results provide a unique analysis of the relationship between seagrass habitat and its associated fish assemblages in that we show that seagrass species diversity had little effect on seagrass fish assemblages, which instead appear driven by specific seagrass traits and seagrass cover. If conserving high value species that support adjacent fisheries is the priority for protecting seagrass meadows, then seagrass areas should be chosen with high cover and structural complexity that are in deeper waters. Any conservation measures also need to balance the needs of fishers that use the resources supported by seagrasses.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Festus P. Nashima ◽  
Nadine A. Strydom ◽  
Stephen J. Lamberth

Abstract A continuous gradient of physical and biological processes exists within a river system from headwaters to mouth, according to the River Continuum Concept. In this study, the River Continuum Concept was used to compare patterns in fish assemblages and diversity trends to Remane predictions. The findings show that species diversity is low near the estuary's mouth and increases upstream. While the presence of several marine and estuarine species increased species diversity upstream in the river due to the dominance of freshwater fishes, it decreased downstream due to the presence of several marine and estuarine species. These patterns are consistent with the biogeographical trend of decreasing species richness along the South African coast from east to west. Based on the findings of this study, the River Continuum Concept ignores plasticity, which is evident in species that use transitional waters. As a result, the concept is insufficiently valid for the Orange River Estuarine Continuum, and a new concept known as the “River-Estuarine Continuum” has been proposed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 547-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lluís Benejam ◽  
Franco Teixeira-de Mello ◽  
Mariana Meerhoff ◽  
Marcelo Loureiro ◽  
Erik Jeppesen ◽  
...  

Transformation of the natural land cover is one of the most important global changes. Changes in land use may strongly affect ecosystem functions and biodiversity by directly or indirectly modifying key structural properties. Here, we examined the effects of land use on the size structure of fish communities in subtropical Uruguayan streams. We analysed the suitability of non-taxonomic, size-related variables as a tool to elucidate shifts in stream fish assemblages along a gradient in land use change. We also tested some taxonomic variables (e.g., species richness and species diversity) to compare their response with size-related variables. In the more anthropogenic disturbed basins (i.e., dominance of urban and agricultural land use), we found higher size diversity, slope of size spectrum (flatter slopes) and total range of fish length, whereas higher species richness, fish abundance and species diversity were detected in more pristine stream basins (i.e., dominance of rangelands). In combination with traditional taxonomic variables, size-related variables of fish communities in streams may be effective tools in evaluating the changes occurring in freshwater ecosystems associated with anthropogenic changes in land use.


1992 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. 1493-1500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara J. Benson ◽  
John J. Magnuson

We quantified the spatial heterogeneity in nearshore fish community composition within six Wisconsin lakes and examined its relation to habitat heterogeneity and species diversity. Fish abundance was estimated annually (1981–84) using seines at six sites in each lake. Substrate type, macrophyte growth form, and depth gradient were noted at each site. Species richness was estimated as the expected number of species when the number of individuals was held constant over lakes (rarefaction). Fish community spatial heterogeneity (the average percent dissimilarity in fish species composition over all possible pairs of seine sites within a lake) differed among lakes; it was positively correlated with within-lake variation in the depth gradient and with species diversity as estimated by rarefaction. We tested whether differences in community spatial heterogeneity among lakes resulted simply from differences in species diversity using a randomization test based on random permutations of the rows (seine hauls) in the species composition data matrix. Lakes differed in the extent to which the observed community heterogeneity exceeded the randomization results. Spatial heterogeneity of the fish community, as opposed to sampling phenomena resulting from differences in richness, was a strong factor in some lakes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuo-Shu Chen ◽  
Hsu-Sen Chen ◽  
Chiee-Young Chen ◽  
Yan-Lin Su ◽  
Pei-Jie Meng ◽  
...  

AbstractTo understand the spatial species diversity of demersal fish assemblages in Taijiang National Park (TJNP) of Taiwan, fishes from 44 demersal trawl hauls and environmental data were collected in the nearshore and offshore areas of TJNP from April 2016 to May 2019. In total, fishes of 47 families, 84 genera, and 113 species were recorded. The nearshore and offshore demersal fish assemblages in TJNP exhibited significant variability in species composition assessed via beta diversity. Using distance-based redundancy analysis, we demonstrated that bottom depth and substrate type were significant explanatory variables of spatial species diversity and identified three habitat types (I: shallow soft bottom; II: deeper soft bottom; III: deeper bottom with mixed sand and gravel substrates). The nearshore assemblage was characterized by type I, where Tarphops oligolepis (flounder), Trachinocephalus myops (snakefish), and Liachirus melanospilos (carpet sole) dominated in terms of abundance. The offshore assemblage was characterized by either type II or type III because differences in substrate types among sampling sites were noticeable. At the offshore sites characterized by a deeper soft bottom (type II), Johnius distinctus (croaker), Cynoglossus kopsii (shortheaded tonguesole), and Coelorinchus formosanus (Formosa grenadier) predominated. In contrast, the westernmost sampling site, characterized by type III habitat, exhibited relatively high Shannon indices, and Scorpaena miostoma (scorpionfish), Urolophus aurantiacus (sepia stingray), and Parabothus taiwanensis (lefteye flounder) predominated. Our results provide the first baseline information on the environmental characteristics and spatial species diversity of demersal fish assemblages in TJNP and have implications for biodiversity conservation in existing spatial management areas.


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