scholarly journals Effects of enhanced hydrological connectivity on Mediterranean salt marsh fish assemblages with emphasis on the endangered Spanish toothcarp (Aphanius iberus)

PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Prado ◽  
Carles Alcaraz ◽  
Lluis Jornet ◽  
Nuno Caiola ◽  
Carles Ibáñez
Keyword(s):  
Salt Marsh ◽  
Fish Community ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
Fish Assemblages ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
Fish Population ◽  
Important Variable ◽  
Hydrological Connectivity ◽  
Local Diversity ◽  
Negative Effect

The hydrological connectivity between the salt marsh and the sea was partially restored in a Mediterranean wetland containing isolated ponds resulting from former salt extraction and aquaculture activities. A preliminary assessment provided evidence that ponds farther from the sea hosted very large numbers of the endangered Spanish toothcarp,Aphanius iberus, suggesting that individuals had been trapped and consequently reach unnaturally high densities. In order to achieve both habitat rehabilitation and toothcarp conservation, efforts were made to create a gradient of hydrologically connected areas, including isolated fish reservoirs, semi-isolated, and connected salt marsh-sea areas that could allow migratory movements of fish and provide some protection forA. iberus. The fish community was monitored prior to, and for three years after rehabilitation. Results showed an increase in the number of fish species within semi-isolated areas (Zone A), whereas areas adjacent to the sea (Zone B) increased the number of marine species and decreased that of estuarine species (ES). Yet overall differences in fish assemblages were much higher between zones than among study years. Generalized linear models (GLMs) evidenced that distance to the sea was the most important variable explaining the local diversity of the fish community after restoration, with occasional influence of other factors such as temperature, and depth. The abundance ofA. iberuswas consistently higher in semi-isolated areas at greater distances from the sea, but a decline occurred in both zones and in isolated reservoir ponds after restoration efforts, which may be attributable to interannual differences in recruitment success and, to a lesser extent, to dispersal into adjacent habitats. A negative effect of restoration works on fish population cannot be excluded, but the final outcome of the intervention likely needs a longer period.

scholarly journals Effects of enhanced hydrological connectivity on Mediterranean salt marsh fish assemblages with emphasis on the endangered Spanish toothcarp (Aphanius iberus)

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Prado ◽  
Carles Alcaraz ◽  
Lluis Jornet ◽  
Nuno Alberto Caiola ◽  
Carles Ibáñez
Keyword(s):  
Salt Marsh ◽  
Fish Community ◽  
Fish Assemblages ◽  
Fish Population ◽  
Important Variable ◽  
Hydrological Connectivity ◽  
Local Diversity ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Migratory Movements

The hydrological connectivity between the salt marsh and the sea was partially restored in a Mediterranean wetland containing isolated ponds resulting from former salt extraction and aquaculture activities. A preliminary assessment provided evidence that ponds farther from the sea hosted very large numbers of the endangered Spanish toothcarp, Aphanius iberus, suggesting that individuals had been trapped and consequently reach unnaturally high densities. In order to achieve both habitat rehabilitation and toothcarp conservation, efforts were made to create a gradient of hydrologically connected areas, including isolated fish reservoirs, semi-isolated, and connected salt marsh–sea areas that could allow migratory movements of fish and provide some protection for A. iberus. The fish community was monitored prior to, and for three years after rehabilitation. Results showed an increase in the number of fish species within semi-isolated areas (Zone A), relative to connected areas (Zone B), while at the assemblage level, structural differences between zones were higher than interannual variability. GLMs evidenced that distance to the sea was the most important variable explaining the local diversity of the fish community after restoration, with occasional influence of other factors such as temperature, and depth. The abundance of A. iberus was consistently higher in semi-isolated areas at greater distances from the sea, but a decline occurred in both zones and in isolated reservoir ponds after restoration efforts, which may be attributable to dispersal to adjacent habitats, and to interannual differences in recruitment success. A negative effect of restoration works on fish population cannot be excluded, but the final outcome of the intervention likely needs a longer period .

scholarly journals Effects of enhanced hydrological connectivity on Mediterranean salt marsh fish assemblages with emphasis on the endangered Spanish toothcarp (Aphanius iberus)

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Prado ◽  
Carles Alcaraz ◽  
Lluis Jornet ◽  
Nuno Alberto Caiola ◽  
Carles Ibáñez
Keyword(s):  
Salt Marsh ◽  
Fish Community ◽  
Fish Assemblages ◽  
Fish Population ◽  
Important Variable ◽  
Hydrological Connectivity ◽  
Local Diversity ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Migratory Movements

The hydrological connectivity between the salt marsh and the sea was partially restored in a Mediterranean wetland containing isolated ponds resulting from former salt extraction and aquaculture activities. A preliminary assessment provided evidence that ponds farther from the sea hosted very large numbers of the endangered Spanish toothcarp, Aphanius iberus, suggesting that individuals had been trapped and consequently reach unnaturally high densities. In order to achieve both habitat rehabilitation and toothcarp conservation, efforts were made to create a gradient of hydrologically connected areas, including isolated fish reservoirs, semi-isolated, and connected salt marsh–sea areas that could allow migratory movements of fish and provide some protection for A. iberus. The fish community was monitored prior to, and for three years after rehabilitation. Results showed an increase in the number of fish species within semi-isolated areas (Zone A), relative to connected areas (Zone B), while at the assemblage level, structural differences between zones were higher than interannual variability. GLMs evidenced that distance to the sea was the most important variable explaining the local diversity of the fish community after restoration, with occasional influence of other factors such as temperature, and depth. The abundance of A. iberus was consistently higher in semi-isolated areas at greater distances from the sea, but a decline occurred in both zones and in isolated reservoir ponds after restoration efforts, which may be attributable to dispersal to adjacent habitats, and to interannual differences in recruitment success. A negative effect of restoration works on fish population cannot be excluded, but the final outcome of the intervention likely needs a longer period .

Temporal variation of larval fish assemblages of the Murray Mouth in prolonged drought conditions

2013 ◽  
Vol 64 (10) ◽  
pp. 932 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. B. Bucater ◽  
J. P. Livore ◽  
C. J. Noell ◽  
Q. Ye
Keyword(s):  
Fish Assemblages ◽  
Larval Fish ◽  
River System ◽  
Sampling Period ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
Flow Regulation ◽  
Nursery Areas ◽  
Transition Zones ◽  
Murray Darling Basin ◽  
Drought Conditions

Estuaries are transition zones that link freshwater and marine ecosystems and are often used as nursery areas by fish. The Murray–Darling Basin, which is heavily affected by flow regulation and water extraction, is the largest river system in Australia and terminates at the Murray Mouth estuary. Protracted drought conditions resulted in extremely low flows to the Murray Mouth that affected water condition, fish abundance, community structure and fish use of the estuary (e.g. nursery areas). The aims of the present study were to examine temporal changes in larval fish assemblages in this estuary. The assemblages were dominated by two gobiid species, Arenigobius bifrenatus and Tasmanogobius lasti. There was a noticeable absence or low abundance of freshwater, diadramous and large-bodied marine species that use this estuary for reproductive functions. Monthly differences in larval fish assemblages, between August–September and October–November, were attributed to increases in the abundances of A. bifrenatus in October and November and oscillation in T. lasti during the entire sampling period. The outcomes of the present study suggested that larval fish assemblages in drought conditions are limited to small-bodied species tolerant of high salinities and that freshwater flows are needed for the estuary to function as a nursery for other species.

Predicting fish species richness and habitat relationships using Bayesian hierarchical multispecies occupancy models

2020 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 602-610
Author(s):  
Shannon White ◽  
Evan Faulk ◽  
Caleb Tzilkowski ◽  
Andrew Weber ◽  
Matthew Marshall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Fish Community ◽  
Fish Assemblages ◽  
Similar Species ◽  
Occupancy Models ◽  
Imperfect Detection ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
Bayesian Hierarchical ◽  
Recreation Area ◽  
Species Occupancy

Understanding how stream fishes respond to changes in habitat availability is complicated by low occurrence rates of many species, which in turn reduces the ability to quantify species–habitat relationships and account for imperfect detection in estimates of species richness. Multispecies occupancy models have been used sparingly in the analysis of fisheries data, but address the aforementioned deficiencies by allowing information to be shared among ecologically similar species, thereby enabling species–habitat relationships to be estimated for entire fish communities, including rare species. Here, we highlight the utility of hierarchical multispecies occupancy models for the analysis of fish community data and demonstrate the modeling framework on a stream fish community dataset collected in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, USA. In particular, we demonstrate the ability of the modeling framework to make inferences at the species-, guild-, and community-levels, thereby making it a powerful tool for understanding and predicting how environmental variables influence species occupancy probabilities and structure fish assemblages.

scholarly journals Species diversity and composition drive the aesthetic value of coral reef fish assemblages

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. 20190703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Sophie Tribot ◽  
Julie Deter ◽  
Thomas Claverie ◽  
François Guillhaumon ◽  
Sébastien Villéger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Reef Fish ◽  
Coral Reef Fish ◽  
Emotional Response ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Fish Assemblages ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Aesthetic Value ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Aesthetic

Cultural and recreational values of biodiversity are considered as important dimensions of nature's contribution to people. Among these values, the aesthetics can be of major importance as the appreciation of beauty is one of the simplest forms of human emotional response. Using an online survey, we disentangled the effects of different facets of biodiversity on aesthetic preferences of coral reef fish assemblages that are among the most emblematic assemblages on Earth. While we found a positive saturating effect of species' richness on human preference, we found a net negative effect of species abundance, no effect of species functional diversity and contrasting effects of species composition depending on species' attractiveness. Our results suggest that the biodiversity–human interest relationship is more complex than has been previously stated. By integrating several scales of organization, our study is a step forward in better evaluating the aesthetic value of biodiversity.

Colonization by nearshore fish on small artificial reefs in Barkley Sound, British Columbia

1981 ◽  
Vol 59 (9) ◽  
pp. 1635-1646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominique Gascon ◽  
Roberta A. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Fish Community ◽  
Fish Assemblages ◽  
Artificial Reefs ◽  
Fish Community Structure ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Barkley Sound ◽  
Reef Fish Community ◽  
Concrete Blocks ◽  
Rocky Habitats ◽  
Colonizing Ability

We investigated the structure of a temperate nearshore fish community by examining the development of fish assemblages on small artificial reefs of concrete blocks constructed in two series 6 months apart. In each series, a species equilibrium, of approximately six species, was rapidly reached within 6 months. Eight of the 30 species which had colonized the reefs from the surrounding rocky habitats were common on the reefs. Both juveniles and adults of all species were present, except for the rockfishes (Sebastes spp.) which were represented only by young individuals (1 to 3 years of age). Tagging indicated that the bottom-dwelling species (Gobiidae, Cottidae) remained permanently on the reefs, whereas a seasonal turnover in rockfish occurred.The communities inhabiting the reefs usually did not differ from each other within each series, whereas significant differences occurred between series. This difference was attributed to the differential colonizing ability of species. No evidence of interspecific competition was apparent among the species inhabiting the reefs.The results are discussed in light of some current models of coral reef fish community structure. Some possible factors affecting the differences observed between tropical and temperate waters are also discussed.

scholarly journals Artificial ponds in Central Europe do not fall behind the natural ponds in terms of macrophyte diversity

2018 ◽  
pp. 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kateřina Bubíková ◽  
Richard Hrivnák
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Variables ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
Common Species ◽  
Red List ◽  
Environmental Predictors ◽  
Local Diversity ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Red List Species ◽  
Species Groups ◽  
Artificial Ponds

We studied macrophyte composition and 24 environmental variables in 69 ponds of both natural and artificial origin in Slovakia. We tested differences in α and γ diversity and β similarity between natural and artificial ponds for helophytes, hydrophytes, red list species and all species. We also assessed effects of environmental variables on species richness of studied ponds by generalised linear models (GLM). For local diversity, the significant difference was obtained only in case of helophytes. Beta similarity significantly differed for all the species groups. Total species numbers (gamma diversity) of all the groups were higher in natural ponds with the exception of hydrophytes. A randomization test of γ diversity yielded significant differences for helophytes and all species groups; richness and diversity of hydrophytes and red list species were not significantly different. Thus, we can conclude that even though natural ponds have a significantly higher regional diversity, local diversity is comparable not only for common species but also endangered red-listed macrophytes and thus artificial ponds could serve as proper secondary habitats for macrophytes. GLM showed different effect of environmental predictors on richness of studied species and pond groups and a slightly higher explained variability in natural (40%) compared to artificial (37%) ponds.

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