Assemblages of fish along a mangrove - mudflat gradient in temperate Australia

2009 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Leslie Payne ◽  
Bronwyn May Gillanders
Keyword(s):  
Fish Species ◽  
Fish Assemblages ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Fish Abundance ◽  
Fish Distribution ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Total Abundance ◽  
Total Fish ◽  
Abundance And Diversity ◽  
Habitat Scale

Mangroves are considered to support rich assemblages of fish and invertebrates. Fishes inhabiting mangrove habitats and at various distances from mangroves across mudflats were sampled to: (1) compare fish assemblages between habitats; and (2) determine the influence of mangrove proximity on fish abundance and diversity in three southern Australian estuaries between November 2005 and January 2006. Based on their distribution, fish species were classified as mangrove residents, mudflat residents, generalists or rare species. The assemblage structure of fish in mangroves differed from assemblages 500 m away; however, neither total abundance nor species richness differed significantly between mangroves and mudflats. Mangrove residents and Aldrichetta forsteri (yellow-eyed mullet) displayed strong associations with mangrove habitats, whereas mudflat residents were associated with mudflat habitats. No other fish groups or individual species occurred in higher abundances in either habitat. Total fish abundance, mangrove residents and A. forsteri were positively correlated with pneumatophore density, indicating that the structural complexity of the mangroves might influence the distributions of certain fish species. The current study demonstrated that mangrove habitats in temperate Australia support no greater abundance or diversity of fish than adjacent mudflat habitats and that mangrove proximity does not influence fish distribution at a habitat scale.

scholarly journals Seascape context modifies how fish respond to restored oyster reef structures

2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 1131-1139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben L Gilby ◽  
Andrew D Olds ◽  
Christopher J Henderson ◽  
Nicholas L Ortodossi ◽  
Rod M Connolly ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Fish Species ◽  
Fish Assemblages ◽  
Oyster Reef ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
Oyster Reefs ◽  
Total Abundance ◽  
Fish Recruitment ◽  
Abundance And Diversity ◽  
Species Specific

Abstract The seascape context of coastal ecosystems plays a pivotal role in shaping patterns in fish recruitment, abundance, and diversity. It might also be a principal determinant in structuring the recruitment of fish assemblages to restored habitats, but the trajectories of these relationships require further testing. In this study, we surveyed fish assemblages from 14 restored oyster reefs and 14 control sites in the Noosa River, Queensland, Australia, that differed in the presence or absence of seagrass within 500 m, over four periods using baited cameras. Fish assemblages at oyster reefs differed from those at control sites, with higher species richness (1.4 times) and more individuals of taxa that are harvested by fishers (1.8 times). The presence or absence of seagrass nearby affected the abundance of a key harvestable fish species (yellowfin bream Acanthopagrus australis) on oyster reefs, but not the overall composition of fish assemblages, species richness, or the total abundance of harvestable fishes overall. These findings highlight the importance of considering species-specific patterns in seascape utilization when selecting restoration sites and setting restoration goals, and suggest that the effects of restoration on fish assemblages might be optimized by focusing efforts in prime positions in coastal seascapes.

Distribution, abundance, and diversity of stream fishes under variable environmental conditions

2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher M Taylor ◽  
Thomas L Holder ◽  
Riccardo A Fiorillo ◽  
Lance R Williams ◽  
R Brent Thomas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Fish Assemblages ◽  
Fish Distribution ◽  
Stream Fish ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variability ◽  
Regional Patterns ◽  
Abundance And Diversity

The effects of stream size and flow regime on spatial and temporal variability of stream fish distribution, abundance, and diversity patterns were investigated. Assemblage variability and species richness were each significantly associated with a complex environmental gradient contrasting smaller, hydrologically variable stream localities with larger localities characterized by more stable flow regimes. Assemblages showing the least variability were the most species-rich and occurred in relatively large, stable environments. Theory suggests that species richness can be an important determinant of assemblage variability. Although this appears to be true in our system, we suggest that spatial and temporal heterogeneity in the environment largely determines both assemblage richness and variability, providing a more parsimonious explanation for the diversity–variability correlation. Changes in species richness of local assemblages across time were coordinated across the landscape, and assemblages formed spatially and temporally nested subset patterns. These results suggest an important link between local community dynamics and community-wide occurrence. At the species level, mean local persistence was significantly associated with regional occurrence. Thus, the more widespread a species was, the greater its local persistence. Our results illustrate how the integrity of local stream fish assemblages is dependent on local environmental conditions, regional patterns of species distribution, and landscape continuity.

Comparative cleaning behaviour of Pederson's cleaner shrimp (Ancylomenes pedersoni) between geographically close yet ecologically dissimilar coral reef habitats

2020 ◽  
Vol 100 (7) ◽  
pp. 1093-1106
Author(s):  
Joseph J. Romain ◽  
Dan A. Exton ◽  
David J. Smith ◽  
Amelia Rose ◽  
Clayton Vondriska ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Coral Cover ◽  
Fish Population ◽  
Fish Abundance ◽  
Environmental Drivers ◽  
Variable Nature ◽  
Total Fish ◽  
Abundance And Diversity ◽  
Lutjanus Apodus ◽  
Cleaner Shrimp

AbstractCleaning mutualisms are important interactions on coral reefs. Intraspecific variation in cleaning rate and behaviour occurs geographically and is often attributed to local processes. However, our understanding of fine-scale variation is limited, but would allow us to control for geography and region-specific behavioural patterns. Here, we compare the cleaning activity of Pederson's cleaner shrimp (Ancylomenes pedersoni) on two neighbouring, yet ecologically dissimilar, reef systems in Honduras: Banco Capiro, an offshore bank close to significant land runoff with high coral cover but a depleted fish population, and an oligotrophic fringing reef around the island of Utila, with lower coral cover but high fish abundance and diversity. The proportion of realized to potential fish clientele was <60% at both sites, and the composition of clientele was neither reflective of the demographics of the resident assemblages at each site nor similar between sites. Parrotfishes represented 13–15% of total fish abundance at both sites yet accounted for >50% (Banco Capiro) and 10% (Utila) of all cleans. Conversely, the schoolmaster snapper (Lutjanus apodus) represented ~1% of total fish abundance at both sites yet accounted for 40% (Utila) and 1% (Banco Capiro) of all cleans. After standardizing our cleaning rate data by clientele abundance, we find that clientele at Banco Capiro engage in over four times as many cleaning encounters per hour with A. pedersoni than at Utila. Our study highlights the variable nature of coral reef cleaning interactions and the need to better understand the ecological and environmental drivers of this biogeographic variation.

scholarly journals Fish Assemblages in a Small Mangrove System on Príncipe Island, Gulf of Guinea

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Cravo ◽  
Armando J. Almeida ◽  
Hamilton Lima ◽  
João Azevedo e Silva ◽  
Salomão Bandeira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fish Species ◽  
Fish Assemblages ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Mangrove Ecosystem ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Fish Distribution ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Revealed Preferences ◽  
Sao Tome And Principe

Mangroves are highly productive ecosystems with complex adaptations to the transition between freshwater and sea. Mangroves function as nursery habitats for many organisms, providing protection and food sources for early developmental stages of crustaceans and fish, helping to maintain adjacent marine stocks. Mangroves in São Tomé and Príncipe remain poorly studied. This study addresses the importance of a small mangrove stand to ichthyofauna. The main goal of the study was to describe the fish assemblages of the Praia Salgada mangrove stand on Príncipe Island, and assess if variations in the season, tide, and mangrove zone affected fish distribution. Fish assemblages were sampled with mosquito nets during the rainy and dry seasons, and neap and spring tides, while environmental parameters such as water depth, temperature, pH, and salinity measurements were taken. The characteristics of the water column were affected by a sandbank that developed between sampling seasons, impacting on the dynamics of the water and biological exchanges between the mangrove stand and the adjacent marine environment. The study identified 14 fish species occurring in the Praia Salgada mangrove stand from a total of 772 specimens caught. Five species were recorded for the first time as occurring in the country’s mangrove areas, namely Caranx latus, Ethmalosa fimbriata, Mugil curema, Gobioides cf. africanus, and Citharus cf. linguatula. Most of the reported species are of commercial interest, and were predominantly juveniles, suggesting that the mangrove ecosystem provides a nursery function for several species. Some species revealed preferences for either the upper or lower part of the mangrove forest. The size of fish sampled tended to be bigger during the dry season, especially for the Mugilidae, Aplocheilichthys spilauchen and Gobiidae groups. E. fimbriata and Eucinostomus melanopterus displayed similar sizes between seasons. The average quantity of fish caught per day in the rainy season was three times higher than in the dry season. The fish species distribution in the mangrove stand varied significantly according to the season and mangrove zone. The overall results suggest that the Praia Salgada mangrove stand provides a nursery function for several of the studied fish species.

The Influence of Stream Barriers and The Hypothetical Origin of Highlands Fishes.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurul F.M. Fadzil ◽  
Zarul H. Hashim ◽  
Amir S. R. M. Sah ◽  
Shahrul A. M. Sah ◽  
Amirul A. A. Aziz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fish Species ◽  
Fish Assemblages ◽  
Fish Distribution ◽  
Species Assemblages ◽  
Fish Movement ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Number Of Species ◽  
The World ◽  
Chi Square Test

Abstract Instream barriers such as waterfalls and man-made dams may result in distinct fish assemblages on both sides of the barriers. To determine the influence of these barriers on fish assemblages, a study was conducted in Sungai Enam that have substantial barriers including an 18-m high waterfall with 6.1% slope. Fish were captured using a backpack electrofishing gear together with scoop nets. Thirteen fish species from six families were recorded along this stream, but only Poropuntius smedleyi (Cyprinidae) can be found along the stream and the reach above the waterfall. Studies on a second site, Sungai Kooi, that has a 65m high and 90° slope waterfall, revealed eight fish species from three families, but only P. smedleyi and Devario regina (Cyprinidae) occurred above the waterfall. The number of species in both streams increases from upstream to downstream. A chi-square test revealed that the total number of species among reaches in Sungai Enam differed significantly. Fish species found above the waterfall are known to have no special adaptations to climb or jump over the barriers. Therefore, to explain their existence above the substantial waterfalls especially in Sungai Kooi, we proposed three hypotheses: (1) the world was once flooded and there was no limitation to fish distribution, (2) fish species assemblages were separated by land uplifting, and (3) there are other stream branches enabling fish movement into respective streams. Further studies are required to confirm these hypotheses.

Lure-assisted visual census: a new method for quantifying fish abundance, behaviour, and predation risk in shallow coastal habitats

2010 ◽  
Vol 61 (12) ◽  
pp. 1349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Kruschel ◽  
Stewart Schultz
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Marine Ecology ◽  
Fish Abundance ◽  
Coastal Habitats ◽  
Field Methods ◽  
Bare Sediment ◽  
Faunal Abundance ◽  
Abundance And Diversity ◽  
Ambush Predators

Understanding the causes of variation in faunal abundance and diversity across shallow coastal habitats is a fundamental goal of marine ecology. Field methods for inferring a habitat effect on population density and predation risk are informative only if method biases are equal across habitats and species. We hypothesised that observation of fixed lures has a species by bias interaction if sampled species have different modes of predation, and that these biases are overcome by use of moving lures. We tested this hypothesis by observation of fixed and moving lures within seagrass and bare sediment in the Novigrad Sea, Croatian Adriatic. Both methods showed that ambush predators peaked in seagrass, wait–chasers peaked over bare sediment, and move–chasers were abundant in both. Stationary lures underestimated wait–chase and wait–ambush predators relative to moving lures, whereas moving lures did not underestimate the density of predators. These results indicate that stationary lures can underestimate both fish abundance and predation risk in the presence of waiting predators, and that if waiting predators are more abundant in structured habitat, then stationary lures will underestimate the predation risk within such habitats. Use of moving lures may be preferable for comparing habitats differing in structural complexity and frequency of predation modes.

Fish Distribution and Composition of Kelantan River Systems, Kelantan, Malaysia

2015 ◽  
Vol 747 ◽  
pp. 294-297
Author(s):  
Rohasliney Hashim ◽  
Mohd Rezza Petra Azlan ◽  
Wan Mohd Amzar Mohd Zainuddin ◽  
Siti Amirah Jusoh ◽  
Amir Shah Ruddin Md Sah
Keyword(s):  
Fish Species ◽  
Fish Distribution ◽  
River Systems ◽  
Anabas Testudineus ◽  
Gill Nets ◽  
Individual Fish ◽  
Total Fish

Fish from three major rivers namely Pengkalan Chepa, Kelantan, and Galas rivers in Kelantan, Malaysia was caught using gill-nets with separate mesh sizes of 1, 2, 3, and 4 inches, respectively. There were 170 fish collected from the PCR systems, which represented 18 families and 21 species (2008-2009). The most common fishes, based on total fish captured, were Ikan duri (Arius maculatus) and Puyu (Anabas testudineus). A total of 245 individual fish were collected from KR (2010-2012) which comprised of 7 families and 22 fish species with the highest number of individual fish (51) collected during this survey was the spotted catfish (Arius maculatus). A total of 562 fish specimens representing 12 families and 32 species were captured from riverine monitoring in the GR systems (2008-2010).

scholarly journals Combining Methods to Better Estimate Total Fish Richness on Temperate Reefs: The Case of a Mediterranean Coralligenous Cliff

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 670
Author(s):  
Alen Soldo ◽  
Igor Glavičić ◽  
Marcelo Kovačić
Keyword(s):  
Fish Assemblages ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Fish Community Structure ◽  
Visual Census ◽  
Census Methods ◽  
Temperate Reefs ◽  
Combined Use ◽  
Total Fish ◽  
Abundance And Diversity ◽  
Mediterranean Biodiversity

Coralligenous habitat is considered as one of the most important special habitat types in the Mediterranean; however, due to its inaccessibility, little is known about it, although it is considered as one of the Mediterranean’s richest habitats in terms of species. Due to a low number of studies, it was presumed that the richness of coralligenous fish assemblages is underestimated using traditional visual census methods which are not applicable to the deep, steep, and vertical slopes of coralligenous cliffs and do not capture exhaustively cryptobenthic species commonly found in this habitat. This paper aims at producing a more complete assessment of fish assemblages on a coralligenous cliff by combining different methods, particularly the deep vertical transect visual census and square with anesthetics method. A total of 76 fish species were recorded on a single coralligenous cliff, supporting the opinion that coralligenous cliffs are important Mediterranean biodiversity hotspots. The analysis of species traits between species recorded by the different methods showed how complementary they are to better describe species compositions. Hence, the result of this study demonstrates that the combined use of methods is essential for a more exhaustive description of the whole fish community structure and for accurate estimates of the abundance and diversity patterns, particularly in complex habitats such as coralligenous cliffs.

scholarly journals Convolutional Neural Networks Predict Fish Abundance from Underlying Coral Reef Texture

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Young ◽  
Vassileios Balntas ◽  
Victor Prisacariu
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Scales ◽  
A Priori ◽  
3D Structure ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
3D Models ◽  
Fish Abundance ◽  
Ecological Patterns ◽  
Abundance And Diversity ◽  
First Time

Coral reefs are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth in large part owing to their unique three-dimensional (3D) structure, which provides niches for a variety of species. Metrics of structural complexity have been shown to correlate with the abundance and diversity of fish and other marine organisms, but they are imperfect representations of a surface that can oversimplify key structural elements and bias discoveries. Moreover, they require researchers to make relatively uninformed guesses about the features and spatial scales relevant to species of interest. This paper introduces a machine-learning method for automating inferences about fish abundance from reef 3D models. It demonstrates the capacity of a convolutional neural network (ConvNet) to learn ecological patterns that are extremely subtle, if not invisible, to the human eye. It is the first time in the literature that no a priori assumptions are made about the bathymetry–fish relationship.

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