Correlation of Fish Assemblages with Habitat and Environmental Variables in a Headwater Stream Section of Lijiang River, China

Abstract

In order to determine the relationship between stream habitat and fish assemblages, an investigation of fish assemblages and environmental variables in different habitat types was carried out in the headwater stream section of Lijiang River, China, from September to November 2016. In total, 2968 individuals belonging to 4 orders, 11 families, 26 genera and 37 species were collected. Cypriniformes emerged as the most species-rich order, accounting for 62.2% of the total species. The dominant species were Pseudogastromyzon fangi, Zacco platypus, Acrossocheilus parallens and Erromyzon sinensis. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) revealed that fish assemblages were not affected by habitat type. However, one-way ANOVA results showed that species richness, fish abundance, fish density and Shannon index were significantly affected by habitat type. Redundancy analysis (RDA) further revealed that altitude, velocity, conductivity, turbidity, depth and wetted width had significant relationships within fish assemblages, whereas water temperature, dissolved oxygen and substrate size were less important in this study, and different fish species preferred different environmental variables potentially due to differences in species’ ecological requirements. Although habitat type did not affect overall fish assemblages, habitat heterogeneity played an important role in fish diversity. Hence, maintaining diverse stream habitats or restoring them are of key importance for fish diversity conservation and sustainability management of rivers.

Ichthyo-diversity assessment of the Old Brahmaputra river, Bangladesh: present stance and way forward

“…It is well established that the fish diversity and abundance is affected by a number of habitat variables, including water depth of marine ( Piacenza et al., 2015 ), freshwater riverine ( Degani et al., 1993 ; Mohapatra et al., 2007 ; Huang et al., 2019 ; Uttam et al., 2013 ; Guo et al., 2018 ) and coastal ( Hossain et al., 2012 ) ecosystems. The average water depth recorded in this study throughout the study period is much less than the data recorded by Ahmed et al.…”

Freshwater fish diversity in three tributary streams in Serayu Basin, Central Java, Indonesia

“…Tulis Huang et al (2019) found that the environmental parameters of elevation, velocity, conductivity, and river depth and width influenced the distribution and abundance of freshwater fish species, whereas water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and substrate size were less important. This is likely a product of species niche, wherein species selected for environmental cues that meet their biological or life-history needs.…”

“…Whereas in the Kali Sapi river, the mud substrate and the downstream part of the river are deeper than the two rivers. According to Jenkins and Jupiter (2011) and Huang et al (2019), Fish species richness within a river is affected by habitat heterogeneity, especially substrate type, because different species occupy different niches and vary in their environmental tolerance (Costa et al 2013;Hasyimah et al 2013;Basavaraja et al 2014;Ohee 2016). Even within a single river, habitat availability or quality may differ to the extent that there are differences in diversity among the upstream, midstream, and downstream reaches (Guo et al 2018).…”

“…Increase in stream depth and width offers more space for individuals and provides more variation in niches, resulting in higher diversity in accordance with species-area relationship. Fish species richness within a river is affected by habitat heterogeneity and other habitat parameters (Jenkins and Jupiter 2011;Huang et al 2019). Among these, water quality, substrate type, and pollutant burdens can affect the presence of a given species (Lakra et al 2010), because different species occupy different niches and vary in their environmental tolerances (Costa et al 2013;Hasyimah et al 2013;Basavaraja et al 2014;Ohee 2016).…”

Microbiological and Physico-Chemical Parameters of the Danube River (Romanian–Bulgarian Sector) with Ichthyofaunal Diversity

“…The fish intestinal tract is considered to be the main portal for pathogens (10,11) and as environmental and ecological factors shape the intestinal tract microbiota (12,13) a correlation between water microbiota and fish diversity is thus consequential. Another factor worth mentioning is that small variations in water pH are also a factor in fish communication and social interaction patterns (14), having important effects on the growth and reproduction of the fish assemblages (15)(16)(17) and as well as on bacterial community composition (8,18).…”