Abstract
Spatial variation in the fish community of the regulated Raia stream (Portugal) was examined during the summer of 1995. Variation in the native fish community (abundance of species-size combinations) was explicitly related to both the abundance of exotic species and habitat variables. The fish community changed in space from assemblages characterised by the high relative abundance of Leuciscus pyrenaicus, Leuciscus alburnoides and the smaller size classes of Barbus bocagei (all Iberian endemics with total length, TL, < 100mm to assemblages characterised by the high relative abundance of Chondrostoma polylepis (Iberian endemic) and B. bocagei with TL > 200 mm and of exotics Micropterus salmoides and Lepomis gibbosus (> 100 mm TL). The former assemblages used shallow sites far from downstream dams with some current whereas the latter assemblages used deeper sites closer to downstream dams without current velocity and with abundant floating macrophytes. Both exotic species and habitat variables were significant correlates of endemic assemblage composition in the Raia stream and the abundance of M. salmoides > 150 mm in TL was the best biotic predictor of endemic assemblage composition. The total variation in the community of endemic fish was partitioned into four components: (i) associated uniquely with exotic species - 12.6%, (ii) associated uniquely with habitat variables - 27.6%, (iii) associated both with exotic species and habitat variables - 14.5%, and (iv) that unexplained - 45.3%. A significant association of exotic species with the endemic fish community remained after accounting for the selected environmental variables and a strong (habitat) x (exotic species) interaction was indicated.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aadland LP (1991) Stream habitat types: their fish assemblages and relationship to flow. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 13: 790–806
Angermeier PL and Karr JR (1984) Relationships between woody debris and fish habitat in a small warmwater stream. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 113: 716–726
Annett C, Hunt J and Dibble ED (1996) The compleat bass: habitat use patterns of all stages of the life cycle of largemouth bass. In: Miranda LE and DeVries DR (eds) Multidimensional Approaches to Reservoir Fisheries Management. American Fisheries Society Symposium 16: 306–314
Almaça C (1983) Contemporary changes in portuguese freshwater fish fauna and conservation of autochtonous Cyprinidae. Roczniki Nauk Rolniczych seria H.T. 100: 9–15
Arthington AH and Welcomme RL (1995) The condition of large rivers systems of the world. In: Voigtlander CW (ed) Proceedings of the World Fisheries Congress, pp 44–75. Oxford and IPH Publishing Co Pty Ltd, New Delhi
Bakker C, Herman PMJ and Vink M (1990) Changes in seasonal succession of phytoplankton induced by the storm-surge barrier in the Oosterschelde. Jounal of Plankton Research 12: 947–972
Balon EK (1984) Patterns in the evolution of reproductive styles in fishes. In: Potton GW and Wotton RJ (eds) Fish Reproduction: Strategies and Tactics, pp 35–53. Academic Press, London
Blanco JC and González JL (1992) Libro Rojo de los Vertebrados de España. Colección Técnica, ICONA, Madrid, 300 pp
Borcard D, Legendre P and Drapeau P (1992) Partialling out the spatial component of spatial variation. Ecology 73: 1045–1055
Braband A and Saltveit SJ (1989) Ecological aspects of the fish fauna in three Portuguese reservoirs. Archive f¨ur Hydrobiologie 114: 575–589
Brittain JE and L'Abée-Lund JH (1995) The environmental effect of dams and strategies for reducing their impact. In: Santbeggen L and Westen CJV (eds) Reservoirs in River Basin Development, pp 129–138. AA Balkema, Rotterdam
Brown LR and Moyle PB (1991) Changes in habitat and microhabitat partitioning within an assemblage of stream fishes in response to predation by sacramento squawfish (Ptychocheilus grandis). Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 48: 849–856
Carlson DM (1992) Importance of wintering refugia to the largemouth bass fishery in the Hudson river estuary. Journal of Freshwater Ecology 7: 173–180
Coelho MM, Martins MJ, Collares-Pereira MJ, Pires AM and Cowx IG (1997) Diet and feeding relationships of two Iberian cyprinids. Fisheries Management and Ecology 4: 83–91
Collares-Pereira MJ, Magalhães MF, Geraldes AM and Coelho MM (1995) Riparian ecotones and spatial variation of fish assemblages in Portuguese lowland streams. Hydrobiologia 303: 93–102
Collares-Pereira MJ, Martins MJ, Pires AM, Geraldes AM and Coelho MM (1996) Feeding behaviour of Barbus bocagei assessed under a spatial-temporal approach. Folia Zoologica 45: 65–76
Cortes RMV (1992) Seasonal pattern of benthic communities along the longitudinal axis of river systems and the influence of abiotic factors on the spatial structure of those communities. Archive fur Hydrobiologie 126: 85–103
Crivelli AJ (1995) Are fish introductions a threat to endemic freshwater fishes in the northern Mediterranean region. Biological Conservation 72: 311–319
Copp GH (1992) An empirical model for predicting microhabitat of 0+ juvenile fishes in a lowland river catchment. Oecologia 91: 338–345
Cowx IG (ed) (1989) Developments in Electric Fishing. Fishing News Books. Oxford, 320 pp
Cowx IG and Collares-Pereira RL (2000) Conservation of endangered fish species in the face of water resource development schemes in the Guadiana river, Portugal: harmony of the incompatible. In: Cowx IG (ed) Management and Ecology of River Fisheries, pp 428–438. Fishing News Books, Oxford
Cowx IG and Wellcomme RL (1998) Rehabilitation of rivers for fish. Fishing News Books. Oxford, 260 pp
Doadrio I, Elvira E and Bernat Y (1991) Peces Continentales Españoles. Collection Técnica, Instituto Nacional para la Conservacion de la Naturaleza, Madrid, 221 pp
Elvira B (1990) Iberian endemic freshwater fishes and their conservation in Spain. Journal of Fish Biology: 37 (Suppl A): 231–232
Elvira B (1995) Native and exotic freshwater fishes in Spanish river basins. Freshwater Biology 33: 103–108
Elvira B, Almodovar A and Nicola G (1998) Fish communities of the middle-upper Tagus River (central Spain): a story of river regulation and exotic introductions. Polskie Archiwum Hydrobiologii 45: 165–171
Fernandez-Delgado C and Herrera M (1995) Age structure, growth and reproduction of Leuciscus pyrenaicus in an intermittent stream in the Guadalquivir river basin, southern Spain. Journal of Fish Biology 46: 371–380
Ferreira MT and Moreira I (1995) The invasive component of a river flora under the influence of Mediterranean agricultural systems. In: Pysek P, Prach K, Rejmanek M and Wade M (eds) Plant Invasions – General Aspects and Special Problems. SPB Academic Publishing, Amsterdam
Frenzel SA and Swanson RB (1996) Relations of fish community composition to environmental variables in streams of central Nebraska, USA. Environmental Management 20: 689–705
Gasith A and Resh VH (1999) Streams in Mediterranean climate regions: abiotic influences and biotic responses to predictable seasonal events. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 30: 51–81
Godinho FN and Ferreira MT (1994) Diet composition of largemouth black bass, Micropterus salmoides (Lacepède) in southern Portuguese reservoirs. Fisheries Management and Ecology 1: 129–137
Godinho FN and Ferreira MT (1996) The application of sizestructure indices to Micropterus salmoides and Lepomis gibbosus as a management tool for southern Iberian reservoirs. Publicaciones Especiales Instituto Español Oceanografia 21: 275–281
Godinho FN and Ferreira MT (1998) The relative influences of exotic species and environmental factors on an Iberian native fish community. Environmental Biology of Fishes 51: 41–51
Godinho FN, Ferreira MT and Cortes RV (1997a) Composition and spatial organization of fish assemblages in the lower Guadiana basin, southern Iberia. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 6: 134–143
Godinho FN, Ferreira MT and Cortes RV (1997b) The environmental basis of diet variation in pumpkinseed sunfish, Lepomis gibbosus, and largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides, along an Iberian river basin. Environmental Biology of Fishes 50: 105–115
Godinho FN, Ferreira MT and Portugal e Castro MI (1998) Fish assemblage composition in relation to environmental gradients in Portuguese reservoirs. Aquatic Living Resources 11: 325–334
Godinho FN, Ferreira MT and Santos JM (2000) Variation in fish community composition along an Iberian river basin from low to high discharge: relative contributions of environmental and temporal variables. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 9: 22–29
Granado-Lorencio C (1991) The effect of man on the fish fauna of the River Guadalquivir, Spain. Fisheries Research 12: 91–100
Grossman GD, de Sostoa A, Freeman MC and Lobón-Cerviá J (1987) Microhabitat use in a Mediterranean riverine fish assemblage. Fishes of the lower Matarraña. Oecologia 73: 490–500
Hankin DG and Reeves GH (1988) Estimating total fish abundance and total habitat area in small streams based on visual estimation methods.). Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 45: 834–844
Harvey BC (1987) Susceptibility of young-of-the-year fishes to downstream displacement by flooding. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 116: 851–855
Harvey BC (1991) Interactions among stream fishes: predatorinduced habitat shifts and larval survival. Oecologia 87: 29–36
Heidinger RC (1976) Synopsis on biological data on the largemouth bass. FAO Fisheries Synopsis 115. Rome, 85 pp
Herrera M, Hernando JA, Fernandez-Delgado C and Bellido M (1988) Age, growth and reproduction of the barbel Barbus sclateri in a first-order stream in southern Spain. Journal of Fish Biology 33: 371–381
Herrera M and Fernandez-Delgado C (1992) The life-history patterns of Barbus bocagei in a tributary stream of the Guadalquivir river basin, southern Spain. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 1: 42–51
Hoyle JA and Keast A (1987) The effect of prey morphology and size on handling time in a piscivore, the largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides). Canadian Journal of Zoology 65: 1972–1977
Jones VJ, Juggins S and Ellis-Evans JC 1993. The relationship between water chemistry and surface sediment diatom assemblages in maritime Antartic lakes. Antartic Science 5: 339–348
Kautsky H and van der Maarell E (1990) Multivariate approaches to the variation in phyto-benthic communities and environmental vectors in the Baltic sea. Marine Ecology Progress Series 60: 169–184
Kubecka J and Vostradovsky J (1995) Effects of dams, regulation and pollution on fish stocks in the Vltava river in Prague. Regulated Rivers 10: 93–98
Lemly AD (1985) Suppression of native fish populations by green sunfish in first-order streams of the Piedmont North Carolina. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 114: 705–712
Lobb D III and Orth DJ (1991) Habitat use by an assemblage of fish in a large warmwater stream. Transactions of the American. Fisheries Society 120: 65–78
Lucas MC and Marmulla G (2000) An assessment of antropogenic activities on and rehabilitation of river fisheries: current status and future direction. In: Cowx IG (ed) Management and Ecology of River Fisheries, pp 261–278. Fishing News Books, Oxford
Magalhães MF (1992) Feeding ecology of the Iberian cyprinid Barbus bocagei Steindachner, 1865 in a lowland river. Journal of Fish Biology 40: 123–133
Magalhães MF (1993) Effects of season and body-size on the distribution and diet of the Iberian chub Leuciscus pyrenaicus (Günther) in a lowland basin. Journal of Fish Biology 42: 875–888
Magnan P, Rodriguez MA, Legendre P and Lacasse S (1994) Dietary variation in a freshwater fish species: relative contributions of biotic interactions, abiotic factors and spatial structure. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 51: 2856–2865
Marsh PC and Minckley WL (1984) Fishes of the Phoenix metropolitan area in central Arizona. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 4: 395–402
Marsh-Matthews E and Matthews WJ (2000) Geographical, terrestrial and aquatic factors: which most influence the structure of stream fish assemblages in the midwestern United States. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 9: 9–21
Marshall S and Elliott M (1998) Environmental influences on the fish assemblage of the Humber estuary, U.K. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 46: 175–184
Meffe GK (1984) Effects of abiotic disturbance on coexistence of predator-prey fish species. Ecology 65: 1525–1534
Meffe GK and Sheldon AL (1988) The influence of habitat structure on fish assemblage composition in Southeastern blackwater streams. American Midland Naturalist 120: 225–240
Miranda LE and Schramm HL (2000) Selecting gear for monitoring fish assemblages. In: Cowx IG (ed) Management and Ecology of River Fisheries, pp 3–13. Fishing News Books, Oxford
Moyle PB (1995) Conservation of native freshwater fishes in the Mediterranean-type climate of California, USA: a review. Biological Conservation 72: 271–279
Moyle PB and Cech JJ (1996) Fishes: An Introduction to Ichthyology. Prentice Hall, New Jersey
Moyle PB and Light T (1996) Fish invasions in California: do abiotic factors determine success. Ecology 77: 1666–1760
Moyle PB and Vondracek B (1985) Persistence and structure of the fish assemblage in a small California stream. Ecology 66: 1–13
Moyle PB and Williams JE (1990) Biodiversity loss in the temperate zone: decline of the native fish fauna of California. Conservation Biology 4: 275–284
Osborne LL and Willey JP (1992) Influence of tributary spatial position on the structure of warm water fish communities. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 49: 671–681
Palmer MW (1993) Putting thinks in even better order: the advantages of canonical correspondence analysis. Ecology 74: 2215–2230
Penczak T and Kruk A (2000) Threatened obligatory riverine fishes in human-modified Polish rivers. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 9: 109–117
Pires AM, Cowx IG and Coelho MM (1999) Seasonal changes in fish community structure of intermittent streams in the middle reaches of the Guadiana basin, Portugal. Journal of fish Biology: 54: 235–249
Poff NL and Allan JD (1995) Functional organization of stream fish assemblages in relation to hydrological variability. Ecology 76: 606–627
Poizat G and Pont D (1996) Multi-scale approach to species-habitat relationships: juvenile fish in a large river section. Freshwater Biology 36: 611–622
Pusey BJ, Arthington AH and Read M (1995) Species richness and spatial variation in fish assemblage in fish assmblage structure in two rivers of the Wet Tropics of northern Queensland, Australia. Environmental Biology of Fishes 42: 181–199
Raibley PT, Irons KS, O'Hara TM, Blodgett KD and Sparks RE (1997) Winter habitats used by largemouth bass in the Illinois river, a large river-floodplain ecosystem. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 17: 401–412
Reynolds J (1983) Electrofishing. In: Nielsen L and Johnson D (eds) Fisheries Techniques, pp 147–163. American Fisheries Society, Bethesda Maryland
Rincon PA Vellasco JC, Gonzalez-Sanchez N and Pollo C (1990) Fish assemblages in small streams in western Spain: the influence of an intriduced predator. Archive fur hydrobiologie 118: 81–91
Rodriguez-Ruiz A (1998) Fish species composition before and after construction of a reservoir on the Guadalete river (SW Spain). Archive f¨ur Hydrobiologie 142: 353–369
Rodriguez-Ruiz A and Granado-Lorencio C (1992) Spawning period and migration of three species of cyprinids in a stream with a mediterranean regimen (SW Spain). Journal of Fish Biology 41: 545–556
Rodriguez MA and Lewis WM (1997) Structure of fish assemblages along environmental gradients in floodplain lakes in the Orinoco river. Ecological Monographs 67: 109–128
Rodriguez MA and Magnan P (1993) Community structure of lacustrine macrobenthos: do taxon-based and size-based approaches yield similar insights? Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 50: 800–815
Rodriguez MA and Magnan P (1995) Applications of multivariate analyses in studies of the organization and structure of fish and invertebrate communities. Aquatic Sciences 57: 199–216
Ross MR (1997) Fisheries Conservation and Management. Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 374 pp
Schlosser IJ (1987) The role of predation in age-and size-related habitat use by stream fishes. Ecology 68: 651–659
Scoppettone GG (1993) Interactions between native and non-native fishes of the Upper Muddy river, Nevada. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 122: 599–608
Snoeijs PJM and Prentice IC (1989) Effects of cooling water discharge on the structure and dynamics of ephilithical algal communities in the northern Baltic. Hydrobiologia 184: 99–123
SNPRC (1991) Livro vermelho dos vertebrados de Portugal: peixes dulçaquícolas e migradores. Serviço Nacional de Parques Reservas e Conservação da Natureza, Ministério do Ambiente, Lisboa, 55 pp
Tejerina-Garro FL, Fortin R and Rodriguez MA (1998) Fish community structure in relation to environmental variation in floodplain lakes of the Araguaia river, Amazon basin. Environmental Biology of Fishes 51: 399–410
ter Braak CJF (1986) Canonical correspondence analysis: a new eigenvector technique for multivariate direct gradient analysis. Ecology 67: 1167–1179
ter Braak CJF (1987) CANOCO-A fortran program for canonical community ordination by [partial][detrended][canonical] correspondence analysis (version 2.1.). ITI-TNO Institut of Applied Computer Sciences, Wageningen, The Netherlands, 95 pp
ter Braak CJF (1990) CANOCO version 3.1. Update notes. Agricultural Mathematics Group, Wageningen, The Netherlands, 35 pp
ter Braak CJF and Verdonschot PFM (1995) Canonical correspondence analysis and related multivariate methods in aquatic ecology. Aquatic Sciences 57: 255–289
Thornton K, Kimmel B and Paine F (1990) Reservoir Limnology: Ecological Perspectives. Wiley-Interscience, New York, 246 pp
Williams JE, Johnson JE, Hendrickson DA, Contreras S, Williams JD, Navarro M, McAllister DE and Deacon JE (1989) Fishes of North America endangered, threatened, or of special concern. Fisheries 14: 2–20
Vaux PD, Whittier TR, DeCesare G and Kurtenbach JP (2000) Evaluation of a backpack electrofishing unit for multiple lake surveys of fish assemblage structure. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 20: 168–179
Zalewski M and Cowx IG (1990) Factors affecting the efficiency of electrofishing. In: Cowx IG and Lamarque P (eds) Fishing with Electricity, pp 89–111. Fishing News Books, London
Zapata S and Granado-Lorencio C (1993) Age, growth and feeding of the exotic species Lepomis gibbosus in a Spanish cooling reservoir. Archive f¨ur Hydrobiologie 90: 561–573
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Godinho, F.N., Ferreira, M.T. Composition of Endemic Fish Assemblages in Relation to Exotic Species and River Regulation in a Temperate Stream. Biological Invasions 2, 231–244 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010022123669
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010022123669