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Spatial Variation in Fish Assemblages across small Mediterranean Drainages: Effects of Habitat and Landscape Context

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Abstract

Much debate about assemblage organization in stream fish may stem from analysing the effects of both local and large-scale processes on assemblage attributes over whole geographic regions. This study addresses this issue, by examining the contribution of local habitat attributes and landscape context to fish assemblage variation across small Mediterranean drainages in southern Portugal. Fish abundance and species composition was estimated in 28 sites, across 10 drainages, in both a dry year (1999) and a wet year (2001), and related to two sets of variables reflecting habitat and landscape characteristics. Fish showed responses to both sets of variables with variance partitioning indicating that landscape context had important effects on species richness whereas habitat attributes were the primary determinants of local fish abundance. In general, high species richness was associated with larger drainage area and higher rainfall variability, whereas variation in species abundances mostly reflected the influence of width, depth, conductivity, current velocity, substrate size and emergent vegetation. The relative contributions of both landscape context and habitat attributes to species richness and abundance were generally lower in 1999 than in 2001, with much less diversified species–habitat relationships being found in the former dry year. These results point to the dynamic nature of assemblage organization, emphasizing the importance of innovative, multi-scale approaches in advancing our knowledge of fish assemblage structure in Mediterranean streams.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Luis Costa, Tiago Marques, Patricia Salgueiro, Elena Crespo and Filipa Filipe for help in fieldwork. Thanks are also due to Filipa Filipe for getting the geographic coordinates of sample sites, Pedro Beja and Miguel Porto from ERENA for determining the landscape variables, and Helena Alves and João Pádua from INAG for providing the area of study drainages. This work was supported by the PROCESL/DRA/INAG project “Plano de Bacia Hidrográfica das ribeiras do Algarve – componente ictiofaunística dos locais de referência e não-referência”, and by a grant from FCT to N. Mesquita (PRAXIS XXI BD/19751/99).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Biologia Ambiental/Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, Bloco C2–3 Piso, 1749-016, Lisboa, Portugal

    Natacha Mesquita, M. Manuela Coelho & M. Magalhães Filomena

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  1. Natacha Mesquita
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  2. M. Manuela Coelho
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  3. M. Magalhães Filomena
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Correspondence to Natacha Mesquita.

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Mesquita, N., Coelho, M.M. & Filomena, M.M. Spatial Variation in Fish Assemblages across small Mediterranean Drainages: Effects of Habitat and Landscape Context. Environ Biol Fish 77, 105–120 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-006-9058-8

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