Abstract
The identification of mechanisms of spatial-temporal variation, obtained from the quantification of natural populations, is a central topic of ecological research. Despite its importance to life-history theory, as well as to conservation and management of natural populations, no studies concerning movement patterns and home range of small stream-dwelling fishes from Brazilian rain forests are known. In the present study we aimed to describe the longitudinal pattern of long distance movement as well as local patterns of short movement (daily home-range) of fishes from a Mata Atlântica stream from Southeast Brazil. We gathered information about movement dynamic in order to discuss the relationship between swimming ability, fish morphology and home range. Long distance movement data were obtained in a mark-recapture experiment held in the field between June and September - 2008, on five sites along the Ubatiba stream. For this study, we had one day to mark fishes, on June-19, and 14 events for recapture. Considering the ten species that inhabit the study area, our study showed that four species: Astyanax janeiroensis, Astyanax hastatus, Parotocinclus maculicauda and Pimelodella lateristriga, moved at least 6 000m in 60 days. The other six species did not present long distance movements, as they were recaptured in the same site 90 days after being marked. For short distance study, movement data were obtained in one mark-recapture experiment held in a 100m long site subdivided into five 20m stretches where fishes were marked with different elastomer colours. We marked 583 specimens that after recapture showed two groups of different movement patterns. The first group was called "Long Movement Group" and the second one was called "Short Movement Group". The Long Movement Group showed, on average, 89.8% of moving fishes and 10.2% of non moving fishes, against 21.3% and 78.7%, respectively, for the Short Movement Group. It was concluded that fish movement could explain the previously mentioned community stability, and that it is correlated to specific morphological attributes.
Highlights
The identification of mechanisms of spatial-temporal variation, obtained from the quantification of natural populations, is a central topic of ecological research (Copp & Jurajda 1993, Lobón-Cerviá & Rincón 2004, Okun & Mehner 2005)
Most of the present studies, focusing on fish population dynamics, are predominantly based on the negative feedbacks between density and demographic factors for the populations, such as, mortality or fecundity (Wootton 1998). This may explain the continuous increase of interest in the role of fish movement and home range as a key factor for the dynamic patterns and size of fish populations (Schuck 1945, Saunders & Gee 1964, Lucas & Baras 2001, Polis et al 2004)
No studies concerning movement patterns and home range of small stream-dwelling fishes from Brazilian rain forests are known, previous studies were mainly based on patterns of diversity and population/community structure obtained in studies about longitudinal and lateral distribution (Menezes & Caramaschi 1994, Mazzoni & Lobón-Cerviá 2000, Mazzoni et al 2004, Mazzoni et al 2005, Rezende et al 2010)
Summary
The identification of mechanisms of spatial-temporal variation, obtained from the quantification of natural populations, is a central topic of ecological research (Copp & Jurajda 1993, Lobón-Cerviá & Rincón 2004, Okun & Mehner 2005). Seasonal climatic variations are less marked, with consequent reduced change in the resource availability This complicates the predictability of the movement pattern of fish and, it is expected that both the short, daily migrations for feeding and refuge, as well as long-distance seasonal migrations for reproduction are much less regular among these tropical fish than among fish populations from temperate areas (Winemiller & Jepsen 1998, Ostrand & Wilde 2002, Granado-Lorencio 2005, McMahon & Matter 2006). We gathered information about movement dynamic in order to discuss the relationship between this swimming ability, fish morphology and home range
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