Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

River hydrological seasonality influences life history strategies of tropical riverine fishes

  • Community Ecology - Original Paper
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Under a particular set of selective forces, specific combinations of traits (strategies) will be favored in a given population, within the particular constraints of the considered species. For fishes, three demographic strategies have been suggested to result from adaptive responses to environmental predictability (i.e., seasonality): periodic, opportunistic and equilibrium [Winemiller KO, Rose KA (1992) Patterns of life-history diversification in North American fishes: implications for population regulation. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 49:2196–2218]. These strategies optimize fitness within predictable, unpredictable and stable systems, respectively. We tested these predictions of life history trait distribution along a gradient of hydrologic seasonality in West African tropical rivers at the drainage basin scale. We used logistic regression of species presence–absence data to test whether dominant life history traits of species caused community compositional change in response to a gradient of seasonality in hydrologic regime across basins. After accounting for taxonomic relatedness, species body size and statistical redundancy inherent to related traits, we found a higher proportion of species producing a great number of small oocytes, reproducing within a short period of time and presenting a low degree of parental care (the periodic strategy) in highly seasonal drainage basins (e.g., rivers with a short and predictable favorable season). Conversely, in more stable drainage basins (e.g., rivers with a wet season of several months), we observed a greater proportion of species producing small numbers of large oocytes, reproducing within a long period of time and providing parental care to their offspring (the equilibrium strategy). Our results suggest that distributions of tropical freshwater fishes at the drainage basin scale can be partly explained by the match between life history strategies and seasonality gradients in hydrological conditions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1a–c
Fig. 2
Fig. 3a–f

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adebisi AA (1987) The relationships between the fecundities, gonado-somatic indices and egg sizes of some fishes of Ogun River, Nigeria. Arch Hydrobiol 3:151–156

    Google Scholar 

  • Adite A, Van Thielen R (1995) Ecology and fish catches in natural lakes of Benin, West Africa. Environ Biol Fishes 43:381–391

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allan JD (1976) Life history patterns in zooplankton. Am Nat 110:165–180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baltz DM (1984) Life history variation among female surfperches (Perciformes: Embiotocidae). Environ Biol Fishes 10:159–171

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanck A, Lamouroux N (2007) Large-scale intraspecific variation in life-history traits of European freshwater fish. J Biogeogr 34:862–875

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanck A, Tedesco PA, Lamouroux N (2007) Relationships between life history strategies of European freshwater fish species and their habitat preferences. Freshw Biol 52:843–859

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blueweiss L, Fox H, Kudzma V, NaKashima D, Peters R, Sams S (1978) Relationships between body size and some life history parameters. Oecologia 37:257–272

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyce MS (1979) Seasonality and patterns of natural selection for life histories. Am Nat 114:569–583

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruton MN, Merron GS (1990) The proportion of different eco-ethological sections of reproductive guilds of fishes in some African waters. Environ Biol Fishes 28:179–187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cattanéo F (2005a) Does hydrology constrain the structure of fish assemblages in French streams? Local scale analysis. Arch Hydrobiol 164:345–365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cattanéo F (2005b) Does hydrology constrain the structure of fish assemblages in French streams? Regional scale analysis. Arch Hydrobiol 164:367–385

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheverud JM, Dow MM, Leutenegger W (1985) The quantitative assessment of phylogenetic constraints in comparative analyses: sexual dimorphism in body weight among primates. Evolution 39:1335–1351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cody ML (1966) A general theory of clutch size. Evolution 20:174–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duarte CM, Alcaraz M (1989) To produce many small or few large eggs: a size-independent reproductive tactic of fish. Oecologia 80:401–404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dupont LM, Jahns S, Marret F, Ning S (2000) Vegetation change in equatorial West Africa: time-slices for the last 150 ka. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 155:95–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elgar MA (1990) Evolutionary compromise between a few large and many small eggs: comparative evidence in teleost fish. Oikos 59:283–287

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fekete BM, Vörösmarty CJ, Grabs W (2002) High-resolution fields of global runoff combining observed river discharge and simulated water balances. Global Biogeochem Cycles 16(3):1042. DOI:10.1029/1999GB001254

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleming IA, Gross MR (1990) Latitudinal clines: a trade-off between number and size in pacific salmon. Ecology 71:1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gittleman JL, Luh HK (1992) On comparing comparative methods. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 23:383–404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenslade PJM (1983) Adversity selection and the habitat templet. Am Nat 122:352–365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grime JP (1977) Evidence for the existence of three primary strategies in plants and its relevance to ecological and evolutionary theory. Am Nat 111:1169–1194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harvey PH, Pagel M (1991) The comparative method in evolutionary biology. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Heibo E, Magnhagen C, Vollestad LA (2005) Latitudinal variation in life-history traits in Eurasian perch. Ecology 86:3377–3386

    Google Scholar 

  • Humphries P, King AJ, Koehn JD (1999) Fish, flows and flood plains: links between freshwater fishes and their environment in the Murray–Darling River system, Australia. Environ Biol Fishes 56:129–151

    Google Scholar 

  • Junk WJ, Bayley PB, Sparks RE (1989) The flood pulse concept in river-floodplain systems. In: Dodge DP (ed) Proceedings of the International Large River Symposium. Can Spec Publ Fish Aquat Sci 106:110–127

  • Kautsky L (1988) Life strategies of aquatic soft bottom macrophytes. Oikos 53:126–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kawasaki T (1980) Fundamental relations among the selections of life history in the marine teleosts. Bull Jpn Soc Sci Fish 46:289–293

    Google Scholar 

  • King JR, McFarlane GA (2003) Marine life history strategies: applications to fishery management. Fish Manag Ecol 10:249–264

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koenig WD (1984) Geographic variation in clutch size in the northern flicker (Colaptes Auratus): support for Ashmole’s hypothesis. Auk 101:698–706

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamouroux N, LeRoy Poff N, Angermeier PL (2002) Intercontinental convergence of stream fish community traits along geomorphic and hydraulic gradients. Ecology 83(7):1792–1807

  • Lévêque C, Paugy D (1999) Les poissons des eaux continentales africaines. IRD Editions, Paris

  • Lévêque C, Paugy D, Teugels GG (1990) Faune des poissons d’eaux douces et saumâtres d’Afrique de l’Ouest, vol I. ORSTOM/MRAC, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Lévêque C, Paugy D, Teugels GG (1992) Faune des poissons d’eaux douces et saumâtres d’Afrique de l’Ouest, vol II. ORSTOM/MRAC, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowe McConnell RH (1964) The fishes of the Rupununi savanna district of British Guiana, South America, Part 1. Zool J Linn Soc 45:103–144

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowe McConnell RH (1987) Ecological studies in tropical fish communities. Cambridge University Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • MacArthur RH, Wilson EO (1967) The theory of island biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ

  • Markham CG (1970) Seasonality of precipitation in the United States. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 60:593–597

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGregor Reid G, Sydenham H (1979) A checklist of Lower Benue river fishes and an ichthyogeographical review of the Benue River (West Africa). J Nat Hist 13:41–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mérigoux S, Dolédec S, Statzner B (2001) Species traits in relation to habitat variability and state: neotropical juvenile fish in floodplain creeks. Freshw Biol 46:1251–1267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mérigoux S, Ponton D (1999) Spatio-temporal distribution of young fish in tributaries of natural and flow-regulated sections of a neotropical river in French Guiana. Freshw Biol 42:177–198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merona B (2005) Alteration of fish diversity downstream from Petit-Saut dam in French Guiana. Implication of ecological strategies of fish species. Hydrobiologia 551:33–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nwadiaro CS (1987) Fecundity of cichlid fishes of the Sombreiro River in the lower Niger delta, Nigeria. Rev Zool Afr 101:433–437

    Google Scholar 

  • Olatunde AA (1978) Sex, reproductive cycle and variations in the fecundity of the family Schilbeidae (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes) in Lake Kainji, Nigeria. Hydrobiologia 57:125–142

    Google Scholar 

  • Partridge L, Harvey PH (1988) The ecological context of life history evolution. Science 241:1449–1454

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Paugy D, Traoré K, Diouf PS (1994) Faune ichtyologique des eaux douces d’Afrique de l’Ouest. Ann Mus R Afr Centr Zool 275:35–66

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters RH (1983) The ecological implications of body size. Cambridge University Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Pianka ER (1970) On “r” and “K” selection. Am Nat 104:592–597

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poff NL (1997) Landscape filters and species traits: towards mechanistic understanding and prediction in stream ecology. J North Am Benthol Soc 16:391–409

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poff NL, Allan JD (1995) Functional orgnization of stream fish assemblages in relation to hydrological variability. Ecology 76:606–627

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ponton D, Copp GH (1997) Early dry season community structure and habitat use of young fish in tributaries of the River Sinnamary (French Guiana, South America) before and after hydrodam operation. Environ Biol Fishes 50:235–256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ponton D, Vauchel P (1998) Immediate downstream effects of the Petit-Saut dam on young neotropical fish in a large tributary of the Sinnamary river (French Guiana, South America). Regul River 14:227–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ricklefs RE (1977) On the evolution of reproductive strategies in birds: reproductive effort. Am Nat 111:453–478

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roff DA (1984) The evolution of life history parameters in Teleosts. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 41:989–1000

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1995) Biometry. WH Freeman and Co., New York

  • Southwood TRE (1977) Habitat, the templet for ecologycal strategies? J Anim Ecol 46:337–365

    Google Scholar 

  • Southwood TRE (1988) Tactics, strategies and templets. Oikos 52:3–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stearns S (1992) The evolution of life histories. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Tamate T, Maekawa K (2000) Interpopulation variation in reproductive traits of female masu salmon, Oncorhynchus masou. Oikos 90:209–218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor DR, Aarssen LW, Loehle C (1990) On the relationship between r/K selection and environmental carrying capacity: a new habitat templet for plant life history strategies. Oikos 58:239–250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tedesco PA, Hugueny B (2006) Life history strategies affect climate based spatial synchrony in population dynamics of West African freshwater fishes. Oikos 115:117–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tedesco PA, Oberdorff T, Lasso CA, Zapata M, Hugueny B (2005) Evidence of history in explaining diversity patterns in tropical riverine fish. J Biogeogr 32:1899–1907

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thioulouse J, Chessel D, Dolédec S, Olivier JM (1997) ADE-4: a multivariate analysis and graphical display software. Stat Comput 7:75–83

    Google Scholar 

  • Tonn WM, Magnuson JJ, Rask M, Toivonen J (1990) Intercontinental comparison of small-lake fish assemblages: the balance between local and regional processes. Am Nat 136:345–375

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Townsend CR, Hildrew AG (1994) Species traits in relation to habitat templet for river systems. Freshw Biol 31:265–275

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vila-Gispert A, Moreno-Amich R (2002) Life history patterns of 25 species from European freshwater fish communities. Environ Biol Fishes 65:387–400

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vila-Gispert A, Moreno-Amich R, Garcia-Berthou E (2002) Gradients of life history variation: an intercontinental comparison of fishes. Rev Fish Biol Fish 12:417–427

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vörösmarty CJ, Fekete BM, Meybeck M, Lammers RB (2000) The global system of rivers: its role in organizing continental land mass and defining land-to-ocean linkages. Global Biogeochem Cycles 14:599–621

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walsh PD, Lawler DN (1981) Rainfall seasonality: description, spatial patterns and change through time. Weather 36:201–208

    Google Scholar 

  • Welcomme RL (1979) Fisheries ecology of floodplain rivers. Longman, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Winemiller KO (1989) Patterns of variation in life history among South America fishes in seasonal environments. Oecologia 81:228–241

    Google Scholar 

  • Winemiller KO (2005) Floodplain river food webs: generalizations and implications for fisheries management. In: Welcomme RL, Petr T (eds) Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on the Management of Large Rivers for Fisheries, vol 2. Mekong River Commission, Phnom Penh, pp 285–310

  • Winemiller KO, Rose KA (1992) Patterns of life-history diversification in North American fishes: implications for population regulation. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 49:2196–2218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winemiller KO, Rose KA (1993) Why do most fish produce so many tiny offspring? Am Nat 142:585–603

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement) and the ANR-06-BDIV-010 project for financial support. Thomas Lüellwitz from the GRDC (Global Runoff Data Center) and Patrick Raous from the IRD kindly provided the hydrological data. We are very grateful to Kirk Winemiller, Thierry Boulinier, Emili García-Berthou and two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments that greatly improved the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut d’Ecologia Aquàtica, Universitat de Girona, Campus de Montilivi, 17071, Girona, Spain

    P. A. Tedesco

  2. Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (UR 131), Laboratoire d’Ecologie des Hydrosystèmes Fluviaux, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 43 Boulevard du 11 novembre 1918, 69622, Villeurbanne Cedex, France

    B. Hugueny & B. de Mérona

  3. Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (UR 131), Département Milieux et Peuplements Aquatiques, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 43 Rue Cuvier, 75231, Paris Cedex 05, France

    T. Oberdorff

  4. Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80115, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    H. H. Dürr

  5. UMR CNRS 5023, Laboratoire d’Ecologie des Hydrosystèmes Fluviaux, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 43 Boulevard du 11 novembre 1918, 69622, Villeurbanne Cedex, France

    S. Mérigoux

Authors
  1. P. A. Tedesco
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. B. Hugueny
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. T. Oberdorff
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. H. H. Dürr
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. S. Mérigoux
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. B. de Mérona
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to P. A. Tedesco.

Additional information

Communicated by Roland Brandl.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

(XLS 122 kb)

(XLS 31 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tedesco, P.A., Hugueny, B., Oberdorff, T. et al. River hydrological seasonality influences life history strategies of tropical riverine fishes. Oecologia 156, 691–702 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-008-1021-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-008-1021-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation