Prediction of suitable feeding habitat for fishes in a stream using physical habitat simulations

Abstract

This study presented the suitable feeding habitat for target fish species using physical habitat simulations for both fishes and macroinvertebrates. The suitable feeding habitat is a novel concept for the fish habitat that guarantees a certain level of feeding condition as well as the suitability of the physical habitat. The study site is a 0.9 km long reach of the Gongneung-cheon Stream, which is a tributary of the Han-gang River in Korea. Three dominant fish species were selected as target fishes such as Rhinogobius brunneus, Zacco platypus, and Pseudogobio esocinus. In order to consider the feeding condition of these fishes, Hydropsyche kozhantschikovi, Chironomidae, Baetis fuscatus, and Cheumatopsyche brevilineata were selected as target macroinvertebrates. Physical habitat simulations were carried out for both fishes and macroinvertebrates, and the distributions of the suitable feeding habitat for the target fishes were provided. It was shown that the suitable feeding habitat properly represents the quality of the target fishes’ habitats. Then, the Weighted Usable Area (WUA) and Weighted epi-Benthic Feeding Area (WBFA) for target fishes were compared, and the results indicated that WBFA predicts fish abundance better than WUA.