Submission Type
Poster
Abstract
Freshwater ecosystems provide habitat for a diversity of aquatic flora and fauna. However, anthropogenic activities like mining and pollution alters aquatic habitats and the ecosystem services they provide. In South America, which hosts one quarter of all freshwater fish species, aquatic habitats are under considerable encroachment from human development. We surveyed nine blackwater creeks tributary to the Demarara River along a major Highway in Guyana to determine whether fish morphology and community structure correlate with habitat characteristics among sites with different degrees of human impact. Twenty-three morphological traits were measured on 3-5 adult specimens of each species. The most abundant species captured across all sites was the characin, Bryconops melanurus. Streams that had a higher presence of macrophytes and aquatic vegetation had higher species diversity, and streams that were impacted by human activities had greater overall fish abundance. Local fish assemblage structure was associated with the type of human disturbance in each watershed and stream. For example, overall fish abundance was positively correlated with food waste, and fish diversity was negatively correlated with pollution from oils or plastics. Additionally, fish morphology was significantly associated with environmental variables, with higher morphological diversity in streams having greater macrophyte coverage. Findings from this study facilitate prediction of functional changes in fish assemblage structure in response to human activities that alter habitat features.
Included in
Biodiversity Commons, Integrative Biology Commons, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons, Zoology Commons
Habitiat structure and ecomorphology of fishes in neotropical blackwater creeks.
Freshwater ecosystems provide habitat for a diversity of aquatic flora and fauna. However, anthropogenic activities like mining and pollution alters aquatic habitats and the ecosystem services they provide. In South America, which hosts one quarter of all freshwater fish species, aquatic habitats are under considerable encroachment from human development. We surveyed nine blackwater creeks tributary to the Demarara River along a major Highway in Guyana to determine whether fish morphology and community structure correlate with habitat characteristics among sites with different degrees of human impact. Twenty-three morphological traits were measured on 3-5 adult specimens of each species. The most abundant species captured across all sites was the characin, Bryconops melanurus. Streams that had a higher presence of macrophytes and aquatic vegetation had higher species diversity, and streams that were impacted by human activities had greater overall fish abundance. Local fish assemblage structure was associated with the type of human disturbance in each watershed and stream. For example, overall fish abundance was positively correlated with food waste, and fish diversity was negatively correlated with pollution from oils or plastics. Additionally, fish morphology was significantly associated with environmental variables, with higher morphological diversity in streams having greater macrophyte coverage. Findings from this study facilitate prediction of functional changes in fish assemblage structure in response to human activities that alter habitat features.
Comments
Donald Taphorn- Department of Ichthyology, Royal Ontario Museum, Ontario, Canada
Kirk Winemiller- Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA
Gyanpriya Maharaj-Centre for the Study of Biological Diversity and Department of Biology, University of Guyana, Guyana, South America.
Hernan López Fernández- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, Michigan, USA