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El Niño Effects and Biological Parameter Comparisons of an Estuarine Resident Fish Occurring in the Sea

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Abstract

Abiotic factors and hydrological disturbances associated with climatic phenomena are challenges to be overcome by many estuarine resident fish. This study investigates whether periods of intense rainfall and continental discharge associated with El Niño events increased the occurrence of estuarine resident fish at adjacent marine sites and possible changes in their body shape and size when caught in the marine area. We used a long-term time series (1996–2019) of environmental factors and abundance of an estuarine resident fish (Atherinella brasiliensis) and comparisons of their body measurements (morphometry) in a subtropical estuary and its adjacent marine zone. Generalized linear models (GLM) showed that A. brasiliensis abundance increased in the marine zone during periods of higher rainfall associated with moderate and very strong El Niño events in relation to neutral and weak events. The species showed differences in body size between estuarine and marine regions, but no substantial changes related to body shape. El Niño events with higher intensity seem to be influencing the displacement of the larger specimens to the marine surf zone over time. More specifically, hydrological disturbance (intense rainfall and river flow) triggered by El Niño of greater intensity might explain the abundance of A. brasiliensis in the marine area and its high tolerance for salinity changes may explain the maintenance outside its estuarine habitat. These findings may help to understand the mechanisms used by estuarine fish to tolerate environmental stress and changes in their habitats, especially in estuaries subject to climatic disturbances caused by El Niño events that are predicted to become more frequent and intense with global warming. Results suggests that long-term changes in flow regimes trigged by strong climatic phenomena like El Niño might alter estuarine specimens’ distribution in the Patos Lagoon Estuary.

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Data Availability

The long-term dataset of the abundance of Atherinella brasiliensis used in this study is available at: Vieira J P, Garcia A M, Lemos V M (2022). PELD-ELPA Species composition and abundance patterns of fish assemblages at shallow waters of Patos Lagoon estuary. Version 1.11. Sistema de Informação sobre a Biodiversidade Brasileira - SiBBr. Sampling event dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/kci8zb.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Henrique Cabral, Dr. Margareth Copertino, and Dr. Valéria Lemos for suggestions on the manuscript. EBS thanks CAPES for providing a graduate scholarship. 

Funding

AMG thanks research fellowship provided by CNPq (Proc. 313008/2021-3). We are also thankful to the Brazilian Long Term Ecological Research Program (PELD — Pesquisas Ecologicas de Longa Duracao) site 8 — Patos Lagoon estuary and adjacent marine region for funding this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Oceanografia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Rio Grande (RS), Brazil

    Erika Belarmino, João Paes Vieira & Alexandre Miranda Garcia

  2. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Rio Grande (RS), Brazil

    Giselle Xavier Perazzo

  3. Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, Burlington, USA

    Bianca Possamai

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  1. Erika Belarmino
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  2. Giselle Xavier Perazzo
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  3. Bianca Possamai
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  4. João Paes Vieira
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  5. Alexandre Miranda Garcia
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Erika Belarmino.

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Communicated by Paul A. Montagna

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Belarmino, E., Perazzo, G.X., Possamai, B. et al. El Niño Effects and Biological Parameter Comparisons of an Estuarine Resident Fish Occurring in the Sea. Estuaries and Coasts 47, 460–472 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-023-01294-8

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