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Synchronous decline of native bitterling population detected from 9 years of survey in rivers and agricultural ditches around Lake Kasumigaura, Japan

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Abstract

To assess the population dynamics, abundance of bitterling species and two non-bitterling cyprinid species were investigated in Lake Kasumigaura, Japan. Fish capture was conducted at nine sites, including rivers or agricultural ditches independently flowing into the lake, every September from 2005 to 2013. Large fluctuations in the abundance of four bitterling species were observed during survey years. Regional population decline of Acheilognathus tabira erythropterus and Acheilognathus melanogaster was detected through 9 years of survey. In addition, spatial synchrony between bitterling species was also observed in the population dynamics. On the other hand, no significant synchrony was observed between bitterlings and the two non-bitterling species. Synchrony of native bitterlings declined with increasing distance, whereas that of Rhodeus ocellatus ocellatus was almost constant regardless of distance. These results supported that the spatially synchronous decline of bitterling species was caused by the Moran effect and dispersal. In other words, results of this study showed that factors that vary over a regional scale, such as climate, and the loss of connectivity among habitats may have contributed to the decline of bitterling species.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

I gratefully appreciate Dr. Masahiro Fujioka for his insightful suggestions throughout this study. I could not have done this study without his advice. I thank the two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments. I also thank Dr. Itsuro Koizumi (Hokkaido University) and Dr. Manabu Kume (Kyoto University) for valuable comments on an early version of the manuscript. I also thank the students in my laboratory for their assistance in the field surveys.

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  1. Japan Wildlife Research Center, 3-3-7 Kotobashi, Sumida-ku, Tokyo, 130-8606, Japan

    Takahiro Morosawa

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  1. Takahiro Morosawa
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Correspondence to Takahiro Morosawa.

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As the trappings of fishes were conducted following domestic laws, no approval by an ethics committee was required.

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Morosawa, T. Synchronous decline of native bitterling population detected from 9 years of survey in rivers and agricultural ditches around Lake Kasumigaura, Japan. Ichthyol Res 70, 368–377 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-022-00898-7

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