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Relation between species richness and stream slope in riffle fish assemblages is dependent on spatial scale

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Abstract

Channel slope is an important variable in lotic systems because it mediates flow. However, stream slope can be measured at various spatial scales and the relation with fish assemblage characteristics may be scale dependent. In this study we investigated the influence of stream slope measured at different spatial scales on fish species richness. We tested three hypotheses: 1) the relation between slope and species richness will be dependent on the spatial scale at which slope is measured; 2) species richness will be inversely related to mean stream slope; 3) species richness will be positively related to stream slope variability. We sampled riffle fish assemblages in 21 streams in southern Brazil. For each stream we measured slope at five different scales and calculated mean slope and slope variation. The influence of slope on local species richness was tested by simple regression analysis using rarefied richness as response variable. We found that the relation between slope and species richness was scale-dependent, because only slope at the whole stream channel was significantly related to species richness. We also observed that steeper streams tended to have less slope variability and lower species richness. These results suggest that processes occurring at the whole stream scale are determinant for local fish species richness. More importantly, they reinforce the need to measure slope at different scales when investigating fish-habitat relations in streams, because the influence of slope may not be detected if assessed at only one scale. We suggest that assessing mean slope and slope variability at different scales should be considered in sampling design of research and conservation aimed at stream fishes.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Taís F. R. Guimarães and Bruna A. Meneses for helping with GIS and for insightful discussions, and to all colleagues of the Landscape Ecology Lab that helped in field work. M. Camana received a UFRGS/CNPQ-BIC scholarship during this research project and R.B. Dala-Corte received a student scholarship from the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ecologia, IB, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, CEP 91501-970, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

    Mateus Camana & Fernando Gertum Becker

  2. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, IB, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, CEP 91501-970, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

    Renato Bolson Dala-Corte

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  1. Mateus Camana
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  2. Renato Bolson Dala-Corte
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Correspondence to Mateus Camana.

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Camana, M., Dala-Corte, R.B. & Becker, F.G. Relation between species richness and stream slope in riffle fish assemblages is dependent on spatial scale. Environ Biol Fish 99, 603–612 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-016-0502-0

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