Seasonally varying impact of detritivorous fishes on the benthic ecology of a tropical floodplain river

Winemiller, Kirk O.; Montoya, José V.; Roelke, Daniel L.; Layman, Craig A.; Cotner, James B.

doi:10.1899/0887-3593(2006)25[250:sviodf]2.0.co;2

Cited by 53 publications

(32 citation statements)

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“…The Gambia River floodplain exhibits low fish diversity compared with other tropical floodplain systems (Welcomme 1979, Cotner et al 2006, Winemiller et al 2006). This is partly because of the fact that the Gambia River has an impoverished fish fauna compared with other West African river systems (Leveque et al 1991) but may also result from the low concentrations of nutrients found in the floodplains (V. Louca, unpublished data).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of Fish as Predators of Mosquito Larvae on the Floodplain of the Gambia River

Louca¹,

Lucas

Green

et al. 2009

J Med Entomol

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We examined the potential of using native fish species in regulating mosquitoes in the floodplain of the Gambia River, the major source of mosquitoes in rural parts of The Gambia. Fishes and mosquito larvae were sampled along two 2.3-km-long transects, from the landward edge of the floodplain to the river from May to November 2005 to 2007. A semifield trial was used to test the predatory capacity of fish on mosquito larvae and the influence of fish chemical cues on oviposition. In the field, there was less chance of finding culicine larvae where Tilapia guineensis, the most common floodplain fish, were present; however, the presence of anophelines was not related to the presence or absence of any fish species. In semifield trials, both T. guineensis and Epiplatys spilargyreius were effective predators, removing all late-stage culicine and anopheline larvae within 1 d. Fewer culicines oviposited in sites with fish, suggesting that ovipositing culicine females avoid water with fish. In contrast, oviposition by anophelines was unaffected by fish. Our studies show that T. guineensis is a potential candidate for controlling mosquitoes in The Gambia. KeywordsAnopheles gambiae; fish; mosquitoes; predation; oviposition The use of fish for controlling mosquitoes was an important tool in the pre-DDT era (Floore 2006, Walker andLynch 2007). Typically fish were introduced into all potential mosquito breeding habitats, including ricefields, marshes, dams, canals, and ponds (Hadjinicolaou and Betzios 1973, Motabar 1978). However, the introduction of DDT in the mid-1940s led to a significant decrease in the use of biological control (Gabaldon 1969). Nevertheless, after concerns regarding the harmful effects of chemicals on nontarget species and the development of insecticide resistance by mosquitoes (Milam et al. 2000), interest in the biological control of malaria vectors has been rekindled (Killeen et al. 2002, Killeen 2003.Fish have been used successfully for controlling both culicine and anopheline mosquitoes (Tabibzadeh et al. 1970, Victor et al. 1994 but are used relatively infrequently in sub-Saharan Africa (Walker and Lynch 2007). Mosquito control using fish has focused on a limited number of species, primarily Gambusia affinnis Baird and Girard and Poecilia reticulata Peters, that have traditionally been used for controlling mosquito larvae (Sitaraman et al. 1975, Gall et al. 1980, Cech and Linden 1987, Homsky et al. 1987, Blaustein 1992, Valero et al. 2006, Walton 2007. One of the most important concerns when introducing exotic fish for mosquito control is their impact on native species (Benigno 2001, Hoddle 2004. In Greece, the introduction of G. affinis led to a decline of the endemic fish species Valencia letourneuxi Sauvage 1Corresponding author, vasilis.louca@durham.ac.uk. 1978, Arthington 1991, Garcia-Berthou 1999, Leyse et al. 2004). The problems with introducing exotic species have spurred interest in the use of native species for controlling mosquitoes (Romand 1985;Mancini and Romi 1988;Fletcher e...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of Fish as Predators of Mosquito Larvae on the Floodplain of the Gambia River

Louca¹,

Lucas

Green

et al. 2009

J Med Entomol

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“…Baigún et al (2008), for example, emphasized the need to protect the hatching and growth areas in the alluvial valleys and highlighted the importance of maintaining appropriate levels of detritivorous species. Such species are a characteristic and salient feature of Neotropical rivers and contribute to nutrient recycling and the regulation of carbon transport in rivers (Winemiller et al, 2006;Taylor, 2006), thus the stock composition and abundance of those species can serve as valuable indicators of ecosystem health. Within this context, traditional guidelines based on optimizing opportunistic or short term financial profits by strongly removing a large biomass of ecological valuable species, or preferentially capturing the largest individuals, represents an unsustainable approach mostly related to conventional management criteria.…”

Section: Management Caveatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of sábalo (Prochilodus lineatus) fisheries in the lower Paraná River basin (Argentina) based on hydrological, biological, and fishery indicators

Baigún

Minotti

Oldani³

2013

Neotrop. ichthyol.

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This study assesses the change in fish exploitation patterns of the sábalo fisheries of the lower Paraná River basin based on hydrological, biological, and fishery indicators. From historical catch records, we recorded a shift from a lightly and moderate exploited status before 2001 to a heavily exploited one, as a result of the development of sábalo exports from 2001 onwards.Channel and floodplain connectivity indices demonstrated that the Paraná exhibited highly favorable hydrological conditions between 1972 and 1999 but more adverse conditions from 1999 to 2009, as a consequence of flood pulses reduction coincident with a fishing mortality increment. A total catch of 15,000 tons, including local consumption, regional market, informal sales, and exportation volumes, was estimated as the maximum sustainable catch. That level was instead exceeded 3 fold in 2004, in parallel with a decrease in the mean fish length from 48 to 42 cm, along with a reduction in both the mesh size from 16 to 12 cm and megaspawner proportion, and an increase of fishing mortality. Although growth overfishing was not noted, an analysis of the spawning potential ratio trend indicated that recruitment overfishing took place during 2005, since the fishing mortality rate was 4 times greater than the natural mortality rate. These observations suggest that less favorable hydrological conditions after 1999 coupled with a coincident high fishing pressure could have impacted the sábalo population biomass. Management of sábalo fisheries requires to set aside a single economic vision of the resource use moving to an ecosystem-oriented approach that incorporate, among others components, the hydrological regime, species life history traits, fishing impacts on other species, and main stakeholders socioeconomic requirements as key elements for the preservation of fishery sustainability.Este estudio evalúa el cambio en los patrones de explotación de las pesquerías de sábalo (Prochilodus lineatus) en la baja cuenca del río Paraná basado en indicadores hidrológicos, biológicos y pesqueros. A partir de registros históricos de capturas se notó un desplazamiento de un estado de explotación ligera o moderada previa a 2001 a otro de explotación intensiva como resultado del desarrollo de una pesquería para exportación a partir de ese año. Los índices de conectividad hidrológica demostraron que el Paraná exhibió condiciones muy favorables para el sábalo entre 1972 y 1999, pero más adversas entre 1999 y 2009 al reducirse el caudal, que coincidió con un aumento en la mortalidad por pesca. Se estimó en 15.000 toneladas la captura máxima sostenible, incluyendo tanto la destinada al consumo local, venta informal y en mercados regionales, como la asignada a exportación. Este nivel, sin embargo, se triplicó en 2004, siendo acompañado por una disminución de la talla media y máxima de captura de 48 a 42 cm y de 64 a 58 cm respectivamente, una reducción de abertura de malla de 16 a 12 cm y un descenso en la proporción de megareproductores. Aun cuando no se detectó sobrepe...

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“…If insect production did not increase it is possible that the sediment response following Prochilodus removal would have been much greater. Prochilodus and other sediment feeding fishes can control organic matter processing in tropical streams (Flecker 1996, Taylor et al 2006, Winemiller et al 2006) and we show that they also can modify organic matter flow through insects. Given that Prochilodus is commercially harvested with declining populations (Barbarino Duque et al 1998;Taylor et al 2006), streams may respond with higher insect production and a larger role for insect-driven processing of organic matter.…”

Section: The Energetic Role Of Insects In Rio Las Mariasmentioning

confidence: 63%

Detritivorous fish indirectly reduce insect secondary production in a tropical river

2011

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Abstract. Dominant animals can indirectly regulate population dynamics and energy flow for many other species in an ecosystem by altering habitat structure and resource availability. However, we know little about the degree to which other taxa can compensate for the loss of these dominant species. By removing animals and measuring responses of other animals as secondary production it is possible to assess how much other taxa can perform similar functions of these dominant taxa. Here we tested the response of aquatic insect secondary production to the loss of a dominant detritivorous fish Prochilodus mariae, in a tropical river, Rio Las Marias, Venezuela. Using an impermeable, plastic curtain, we excluded Prochilodus from one half of a 235-m stream reach for 6 weeks. We measured insect production as biomass times empirically measured body mass-specific growth rates for 8 common taxa constituting 59-74% of insect biomass. Removing Prochilodus increased the standing stock of benthic organic sediment. Biomass of the entire assemblage increased 1.7-fold and insect production for 8 taxa tripled upon exclusion of Prochilodus. Two fast-growing mayfly genera, Tricorythodes and Leptohyphes drove the increased secondary production. Despite low biomass of insects, growth rates were among the highest measured for freshwater insects, and these high growth rates in part caused high secondary production. Although insect production was high in the exclusion reach, insects did not compensate for the loss of Prochilodus in terms of consuming organic sediment showing that the capacity of detritivorous fish to process sediments is higher than that for aquatic insects in this tropical river.

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Seasonally varying impact of detritivorous fishes on the benthic ecology of a tropical floodplain river

Cited by 53 publications

References 54 publications

Role of Fish as Predators of Mosquito Larvae on the Floodplain of the Gambia River

Role of Fish as Predators of Mosquito Larvae on the Floodplain of the Gambia River

Assessment of sábalo (Prochilodus lineatus) fisheries in the lower Paraná River basin (Argentina) based on hydrological, biological, and fishery indicators

Detritivorous fish indirectly reduce insect secondary production in a tropical river

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