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Ecology of fish spawning and nursery zones in the flood plain, using a new sampling approach

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Abstract

Horizontal zonation of fish reproduction, a lotic-to-lentic succession similar to that seen with increasing stream order, was evident from the relative abundance of larval and 0 + juvenile fishes in three floodplain spawning and nursery areas (lotic, semi-lotic, lentic) of the Upper Rhône River, France. Although the lotic and lentic ecosystems provided similar estimates of standing crop (0 + juveniles), differences were apparent in the reproductive and trophic guild structure of the YOY taxocoenoses at the three sites. A new sampling approach (Random Point-Abundance Sampling and modified electrofishing) is described for early-life fish ecology. The electrofishing method employed is mobile, effective for all sizes of larvae and 0 + juveniles of most species, quantitative, and applicable to a number of freshwater situations; and the punctual data resulting from this sampling approach are comparable both spatially and temporally.

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  1. Gordon H. Copp

    Present address: Eastern Rivers Group, FBA, c/o Regional Fisheries Laboratory, Bromholm Lane, Brampton, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d'Ecologie des Eaux Douces, UA CNRS 367, Université C. Bernard, Lyon I, 43, bd 11 novembre 1918, 69622, Villeurbanne, Cédex, France

    Gordon H. Copp

  2. Institute of Ecological and Systemical Biology, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, 603 65 BRNO, Květná 8, Czechoslovakia

    Milan Peňáz

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Copp, G.H., Peňáz, M. Ecology of fish spawning and nursery zones in the flood plain, using a new sampling approach. Hydrobiologia 169, 209–224 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00007312

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