Abstract
Our lack of knowledge on the spatiotemporal drivers of the distribution of many freshwater fishes, particularly as they differ among life-history stages, is a challenge to conservation of these species. We used 2-stage hurdle models to investigate drivers of occurrence and abundance of locally threatened adult and juvenile Northern River Blackfish in the upper Condamine River, Queensland, Australia. Different processes drive occurrence and abundance between the 2 life-history stages. Both adult and juvenile occurrences were negatively associated with high-magnitude, extended warming events, suggesting Northern River Blackfish are thermally restricted to cooler headwaters. Juveniles had greater sensitivity than adults to high stream temperatures. In contrast, drivers of abundance differed between life-history stages. Adult fish were negatively associated with increased fine-sediment loads, whereas juveniles were negatively associated with a hydrologically active inverse-distance-weighted grazing metric that accounted for the greater influence of grazed land close to the stream or in areas of high overland flow. Teasing apart environmental drivers affecting multiple life-history stages of a locally threatened headwater species enabled us to provide direct management recommendations for conserving this species and ecologically similar headwater fishes and their associated habitats.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.