Fish Species Richness Research Articles

Global tropical reef fish richness could decline by around half if corals are lost.

Reef fishes are a treasured part of marine biodiversity, and also provide needed protein for many millions of people. Although most reef fishes might survive projected increases in ocean temperatures, corals are less tolerant. A few fish species strictly depend on corals for food and shelter, suggesting that coral extinctions could lead to some secondary fish extinctions. However, secondary extinctions could extend far beyond those few coral-dependent species. Furthermore, it is yet unknown how such fish declines might vary around the world. Current coral mass mortalities led us to ask how fish communities would respond to coral loss within and across oceans. We mapped 6964 coral-reef-fish species and 119 coral genera, and then regressed reef-fish species richness against coral generic richness at the 1° scale (after controlling for biogeographic factors that drive species diversification). Consistent with small-scale studies, statistical extrapolations suggested that local fish richness across the globe would be around half its current value in a hypothetical world without coral, leading to more areas with low or intermediate fish species richness and fewer fish diversity hotspots.

Comparison of regression-based and machine learning techniques to explain alpha diversity of fish communities in streams of central and eastern India

Over the past several decades, ecologists have been striving to develop models that accurately describe species-habitat relationships across ecological communities. Statistical models that explain ecological dynamics need to consider the nuances of the complex interactions between communities and ecological factors. Here, we used multiple linear mixed models (LMM), generalized additive models (GAM), multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS), and artificial neural networks (ANN) to model species richness and diversity of freshwater fishes in eastern and central India. The models were based on fish abundance and associated ecological data over three years across the study regions. We developed global models using all predictors after removing highly correlated variables (Pearson’s r > 0.7). Results revealed conductivity, water temperature, and water velocity as the most important predictive factors of both species richness and diversity. We, then, built two subsets of selected factors to build predictive models for diversity and richness- one variable set containing common significant factors as revealed from the four different modeling methods used and the second, using an automatic feature selection technique. Amongst the modeling methods used in our study, ANN was found to create the best fit models for explaining nonlinearities between response variables and predictors. The importance of variable selection is highlighted, given that subset 1 (common consensual factors) creates more homogeneity in predictions compared to using subset 2 (automated feature selection). Contrary to similar studies in recent years, which show machine learning (ML) methods to typically outperform conventional methods, our results revealed that ANN performed at par with other methods in terms of predictive power. Our findings underline the need for a judicious choice of modeling techniques based on the availability of the data and the ecological communities being studied.

СОВРЕМЕННАЯ ГИДРОМОРФОЛОГИЧЕСКАЯ, ГИДРОБИОЛОГИЧЕСКАЯ ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКА И СОСТОЯНИЕ РЫБНОГО НАСЕЛЕНИЯ ОЗЕР ГАЛИЧСКОЕ И ЧУХЛОМСКОЕ КОСТРОМСКОЙ ОБЛАСТИ

Hydrochemical, hydrobiological and ichthyological studies of the two largest lakes in the Kostroma region - Galichskoye and Chukhlomskoye for the period 2005–19 were carried out. Current state of the fish population in comparison with previous periods was analysed. Area of water bodies was updated according to geographic information systems data for 2017–19. The collection and processing of hydrochemical and hydrobiological samples were carried out according to standard methods. The collection of ichthyological materials was carried out by conventional methods using fry drag, small-mesh seines and fixed nets. The boundaries of the lakes were digitized using Landsat satellite images. The hydrochemical indicators of both lakes are within the limits of fishery standards. The hydrochemical regime of Lake Galichskoye is stable. The rise in the water level of Lake Chukhlomskoye had a positive effect on its hydrochemical regime. It has been established that both investigated lakes are currently, as before, highly productive water bodies. According to the concentration of chlorophyll “a” they have a β-eutrophic status, according to quantitative indicators of phytoplankton development they correspond to a high eutrophic level. According to the quantitative indicators of zooplankton, Lake Galichskoye is a low-forage water body (0.37 g/m3), and Chukhlomskoye is a medium-forage water body (2.12 g/m3). Lake Galichskoye is medium-fodder, and Lake Chukhlomskoye is high-forage lakes for benthofagous fish. According to indicator species of zoobenthos, the water of both lakes is classified as an α-mesosaprobic zone, polluted (quality class IV).
 The species richness of fish on Lake Galich – 16 species, on Lake Chukhloma – 12 species, ichthyomass – 221.9 and 176.5 kg/ha, respectively. It was noted that in the reservoirs over the past two decades, serious changes have occurred in the structure of the fish population. In both lakes, perch fish were replaced by cyprinids, which is associated with the process of eutrophication. In Galichskoye Lake, after a sharp decrease in fishing load since 2005, there has been a significant increase in the number of small-sized fish species caused a corresponding increase in stocks of predatory species (pike and pike perch). In the Lake Chukhlomskoye, the ecological niche of the crucian was occupied by the bream, which was acclimatized in the reservoir almost a century ago. It was determined that during the growing season the average area of Lake Galichskoye is 7124.3 ± 57.5 hectares, of Lake Chukhlomskoye – 4862.7 ± 14.7 hectares.

Nearshore Fish Species Richness and Species–Habitat Associations in the St. Clair–Detroit River System

Shallow water riparian zones of large rivers provide important habitat for fishes, but anthropogenic influences have reduced the availability and quality of these habitats. In the St. Clair–Detroit River System, a Laurentian Great Lakes connecting channel, losses of riparian habitat contributed to impairment of fish populations and their habitats. We conducted a seine survey annually from 2013 to 2019 at ten sites in the St. Clair and Detroit rivers to assess riparian fish communities, and to identify habitat attributes associated with fish species richness and catches of common species. We captured a total of 38,451 fish representing 60 species, with emerald shiner Notropis atherinoides composing the largest portion of the catch. We used an information-theoretic approach to assess the associations between species richness and catches of 33 species with habitat variables (substrate, shoreline vegetation types, and aquatic macrophyte richness). Sand, cobble, and algal substrates and shoreline vegetation were important predictors of species richness based on a multimodel inference approach. However, habitat associations of individual species varied. This work identified manageable habitat variables associated with species richness, while identifying potential tradeoffs for individual species. Further, this work provides baselines for development and evaluation of fish community and shoreline habitat restoration goals.

Seasonal variation and drivers of zooplankton, macroinvertebrate and littoral fish communities from irrigation ponds in a semi-arid region in the Eastern Cape (South Africa)

Irrigation ponds are increasingly abundant globally, particularly in water-stressed countries with limited natural surface waters, yet knowledge of their ecology is limited. Here, we assessed zooplankton, macroinvertebrate, and littoral fish communities from irrigation ponds located in the Sundays River Valley in South Africa. This study assessed the seasonal community patterns in response to physico-chemical and biotic components. Water temperature, water depth, Secchi depth, and ammonium concentrations differed significantly across seasons. Similarly, Chlorophyll-a concentrations differed seasonally, with water transparency identified as the main driver. Zooplankton was dominated by Rotifera, Copepoda and Cladocera. Seasonal changes in temperature and subsequent fluctuations in water levels resulted in changes in zooplankton community. Macroinvertebrates were dominated by insects, notably the families Corixidae and Naucoridae. The littoral fish community comprised of Glossogobius callidus, Oreochromis mossambicus and Gambusia affinis. Zooplankton, macroinvertebrates and littoral fish abundances, species richness, diversity and assemblage composition differed significantly across seasons with temperature identified as the main driver of these differences. This study demonstrates that bottom-up processes are the dominant drivers of the irrigation pond communities in the Sundays River Valley and highlights the relevance of seasonal abiotic drivers in structuring these communities, particularly G. callidus and G. affinis.

Accelerated Diversification Explains the Exceptional Species Richness of Tropical Characoid Fishes.

The Neotropics harbor the most species-rich freshwater fish fauna on the planet, but the timing of that exceptional diversification remains unclear. Did the Neotropics accumulate species steadily throughout their long history, or attain their remarkable diversity recently? Biologists have long debated the relative support for these museum and cradle hypotheses, but few phylogenies of megadiverse tropical clades have included sufficient taxa to distinguish between them. We used 1288 ultraconserved element loci spanning 293 species, 211 genera, and 21 families of characoid fishes to reconstruct a new, fossil-calibrated phylogeny and infer the most likely diversification scenario for a clade that includes a third of Neotropical fish diversity. This phylogeny implies paraphyly of the traditional delimitation of Characiformes because it resolves the largely Neotropical Characoidei as the sister lineage of Siluriformes (catfishes), rather than the African Citharinodei. Time-calibrated phylogenies indicate an ancient origin of major characoid lineages and reveal a much more recent emergence of most characoid species. Diversification rate analyses infer increased speciation and decreased extinction rates during the Oligocene at around 30 Ma during a period of mega-wetland formation in the proto-Orinoco-Amazonas. Three species-rich and ecomorphologically diverse lineages (Anostomidae, Serrasalmidae, and Characidae) that originated more than 60 Ma in the Paleocene experienced particularly notable bursts of Oligocene diversification and now account collectively for 68% of the approximately 2150 species of Characoidei. In addition to paleogeographic changes, we discuss potential accelerants of diversification in these three lineages. While the Neotropics accumulated a museum of ecomorphologically diverse characoid lineages long ago, this geologically dynamic region also cradled a much more recent birth of remarkable species-level diversity. [Biodiversity; Characiformes; macroevolution; Neotropics; phylogenomics; ultraconserved elements.].

Importance of low‐relief nursery habitat for reef fishes

AbstractCoastal restoration projects to mitigate environmental impacts have increased global demand for sand resources. Unfortunately, these resources are often extracted from sand/shell banks on the inner continental shelf, resulting in significant alteration or loss of low‐relief reefs in coastal oceans. Experimental reefs (oyster shell, limestone rubble, composite) were deployed in the western Gulf of Mexico to assess their potential value as nurseries for newly settled reef fishes. Occurrence, abundance, and species richness of juvenile fishes were significantly higher on all three types of low‐relief reefs compared with unconsolidated sediment. Moreover, reefs served as nursery habitat for a range of reef fish taxa (angelfishes, grunts, sea basses, snappers, and triggerfishes). Red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) was the dominant species present on all experimental reefs (100% occurrence), and mean density of this species was markedly higher on each of the three low‐relief reefs (>40.0 individuals/reef) relative to comparable areas over unconsolidated sediment (0.2 individuals). Our results suggest creation or restoration of structurally complex habitat on the inner shelf has the potential to markedly increase early life survival and expedite the recovery of exploited reef fish populations, and therefore may represent a critical conservation tool for increasing recruitment and maintaining reef fish diversity.

Trade-off between number and length of remote videos for rapid assessments of reef fish assemblages.

Remote underwater videos are widely employed to assess the structure and composition of reef fish assemblages but the sampling effort employed on each survey differs considerably, indicating that both the number of assessments and video length could be optimized. We searched for this optimal sampling effort in remote video samples to conduct rapid assessments of community composition and discussed the relation between number of replicates and video length, and how it impacts the method's efficiency to characterize species assemblages. Remote video recordings from tropical reefs in northeastern Brazil were used to investigate how fish species richness and composition builds across time and number of assays. Videos as short as 5 min successfully recorded species richness, requiring about five repetitions to record most species that compose 80% of the total biomass. Recording species composition required even less time in these reefs, setting a minimum of 3 min with the same five videos. By comparing the detected richness per analysed time unit, we found several shorter videos recorded for more species than a few longer videos, indicating that increasing the sampling coverage in the reef area might be better than just extending the video length for rapid assessments.

Impacts of large and small barriers on fish assemblage composition assessed using environmental DNA metabarcoding

River fragmentation caused by instream barriers is a leading cause of biodiversity loss, particularly for freshwater migratory fish, the vertebrate group that has suffered the steepest decline. However, most studies have tended to focus on the impacts of large dams on only a few taxa. We estimated the cumulative impact of both large and small barriers on fish species richness and relative abundance along an altitudinal gradient in the main stem of the River Allier (France). Using eDNA metabarcoding, we identified 24 fish zero-radius operational taxonomic units (zOTUs), corresponding to 26 species distributed along the main stem of the river. Elevation explained the greatest amount of variation in fish distribution, together with average flow, barrier density and its interaction with cumulative barrier height. Based on eDNA, the largest discontinuity in species richness was not related to the location of Poutès, the largest dam in the system, but located downstream from it. Our results indicate that, in addition to the more obvious effects of large dams on migratory fish such as the Atlantic salmon, the cumulative effects of small barriers can have widespread impacts on fish species richness and relative abundance, which should not be overlooked. We suggest that, as for other fragmented rivers, acting on numerous small barriers might bring about greater benefits in fish species richness than focusing only on the largest dams.

Assessing the impacts of agricultural conservation practices on freshwater biodiversity under changing climate

Freshwater systems are some of the most threatened ecosystems in the world. Factors contributing to their degradation can be associated with the expansion and intensification of agriculture in the 20th century, which has led to habitat degradation and water pollution. To mitigate the impacts of agricultural activities and improve stream ecosystem quality, government-funded conservation programs have promoted the implementation of best management practices (BMPs) during the last three to four decades. However, these conservation programs have been implemented within agricultural landscapes without evaluating exhaustively their potential side effects on freshwater species at the watershed scale. This study aimed to assess the changes in freshwater biodiversity in terms of fish species richness under future climate and potential conservation land-management schemes in the Kaskaskia River Watershed, Illinois, USA. Fish regression models were integrated to the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to simulate the responses of total- and game-fish species richness to four major management practices (crop rotation, cover cropping, reduced tillage, modified fertilizer application) identified as the most feasible in terms of stakeholder acceptability and environmental soundness, under 32 distinct climate projections. Results showed that fish species in the KRW are more sensitive to changes in the climate regime than to changes in the land-management practices. Specifically, the most likely percentage changes in fish species revealed a potential decline in richness in all stream orders over time with the worst impacts in the first and second order streams (-5%–-10% decade−1) due to the progressive increase in the temperatures (0.61 °C –0.92 °C decade−1) expected in the watershed. The long-term impacts on fish species richness may be inevitable if the proposed land-management alternatives were not accompanied by additional measures specifically design to protect aquatic life.

Fish species richness in the Terminos Lagoon: An occurrence data compilation of four sampling campaigns along a multidecadal series.

BackgroundHere we present an occurrence dataset that contributes to the knowledge of tropical fish distribution in coastal habitats from the Terminos Lagoon Flora and Fauna Protection Area, one of the largest lagoon ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico. Fish are high biomass keystone species in the Terminos Lagoon which provide socio-economic and ecosystem services. An initiative in 1980 was carried out to systematically sample the fish community of Terminos Lagoon for an annual cycle; the effectiveness of its results led to replicate in the lagoon the same sampling design for three more campaigns in 1998, 2010 and 2016. Constituted as a Flora and Fauna Protection Area in 1994, the Terminos Lagoon has received many efforts to inventory its biodiversity, particularly on the fish community since the 70s; however, these studies did not have consistent survey protocols, nor the longevity of the present study, which was over four decades.New informationA total of 141 fish species, belonging to 90 genera, 49 families, 20 orders and two classes are presented in this study. Information on fish species occurrence data is provided corresponding to the Terminos Lagoon coastal ecosystem, southern Gulf of Mexico, assembled from four time periods at 1980, 1998, 2010 and 2016. The records form part of a consistently homogeneous database compilation, mostly derived from the research programme's sampled material on tropical fishery resources of the “Instituto de Ecologia, Pesquerias y Oceanografia del Golfo de Mexico (EPOMEX)”. The current dataset represents the first and most comprehensive online open-access source of information concerning the fish community occurring along and wide of the Terminos Lagoon ecosystem, with 1,249 data records and a total count of 48,717 organisms. Data are available through the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS).

Hydrologic variation influences stream fish assemblage dynamics through flow regime and drought

Hydrologic variation can play a major role in structuring stream fish assemblages and relationships between hydrology and biology are likely to be influenced by flow regime. We hypothesized that more variable flow regimes would have lower and more variable species richness, higher species turnover and lower assemblage stability, and greater abiotic environment-fish relationships than more stable flow regimes. We sampled habitats (pool, run, and riffle) in three Runoff/Intermittent Flashy streams (highly variable flow regime) and three Groundwater Flashy streams (less variable flow regime) seasonally (spring, early summer, summer and autumn) in 2002 (drought year) and 2003 (wet year). We used backpack electrofishing and three-pass removal techniques to estimate fish species richness, abundance and density. Fish species richness and abundance remained relatively stable within streams and across seasons, but densities changed substantially as a result of decreased habitat volume. Mixed model analysis showed weak response variable-habitat relationships with strong season effects in 2002, and stronger habitat relationships and no season effect in 2003, and flow regime was not important in structuring these relationships. Seasonal fish species turnover was significantly greater in 2002 than 2003, but did not differ between flow regimes. Fish assemblage stability was significantly lower in Runoff/Intermittent Flashy than Groundwater Flashy streams in 2002, but did not differ between flow regimes in 2003. Redundancy analysis showed fish species densities were well separated by flow regime in both years. Periodic and opportunistic species were characteristic of Runoff/Intermittent Flashy streams, whereas mainly equilibrium species were characteristic of Groundwater Flashy streams. We found that spatial and temporal variation in hydrology had a strong influence on fish assemblage dynamics in Ozark streams with lower assemblage stability and greater fluctuations in density in more hydrologically variable streams and years. Understanding relationships between fish assemblage structure and hydrologic variation is vital for conservation of fish biodiversity. Future work should consider addressing how alteration of hydrologic variation will affect biotic assemblages.

Artificial reefs in the Caribbean: A need for comprehensive monitoring and integration into marine management plans

Caribbean coral reefs are in decline and the deployment of artificial reefs, structures on the sea bottom that mimic one or more characteristics of a natural reef, is increasingly often considered to sustain ecosystem services. Independent of their specific purposes, it is essential that artificial reefs do not negatively affect the already stressed surrounding habitat. To evaluate the ecological effects of artificial reefs in the Caribbean, an analysis was performed on 212 artificial reefs that were deployed in the Greater Caribbean between 1960 and 2018, based on cases documented in grey (n = 158) and scientific (n = 54) literature. Depending on the availability of data, reef type and purpose were linked to ecological effects and fisheries management practices around the artificial reefs. The three most common purposes to deploy artificial reefs were to create new dive sites (41%), to perform research (22%) and to support ecosystem restoration (18%), mainly by stimulating diversity. Ship wrecks (44%), reef balls© (13%) and piles of concrete construction blocks (11%) were the most-often deployed artificial reef structures and metal and concrete were the most-used materials. The ecological development on artificial reefs in the Caribbean appeared to be severely understudied. Research and monitoring has mostly been done on small experimental reefs that had been specifically designed for science, whereas the most commonly deployed artificial reef types have hardly been evaluated. Studies that systematically compare the ecological functioning of different artificial reef types are virtually non-existent in the Caribbean and should be a research priority, including the efficacy of new designs and materials. Comparisons with natural reef ecosystems are scarce. Artificial reefs can harbor high fish densities and species richness, but both fish and benthos assemblages often remain distinct from natural ecosystems. Studies from other parts of the world show that artificial reefs can influence the surrounding ecosystem by introducing non-indigenous species and by leaking iron. As artificial reefs attract part of their marine organisms from surrounding habitats, intensive exploitation by fishers, without clear management, can adversely affect the fish stocks in the surrounding area and thus counteract any potential ecosystem benefits. This study shows that over 80% of artificial reefs in the Caribbean remain accessible to fishers and are a risk to the surrounding habitat. To ensure artificial reefs and their fisheries do not negatively affect the surrounding ecosystem, it is imperative to include artificial reefs, their fisheries and the surrounding ecosystem in monitoring programs and management plans and to create no-take zones around artificial reefs that are not monitored.

Food Webs and Fish Size Patterns in Insular Lakes Partially Support Climate-Related Features in Continental Lakes

Disentangling the effects of climate change on nature is one of the main challenges facing ecologists nowadays. Warmer climates forces strong effects on lake biota for fish, leading to a reduction in size, changes in diet, more frequent reproduction, and stronger cascading effects. Space-for-time substitution studies (SFTS) are often used to unravel climate effects on lakes biota; however, results from continental lakes are potentially confounded by biogeographical and evolutionary differences, also leading to an overall higher fish species richness in warm lakes. Such differences may not be found in lakes on remote islands, where natural fish free lakes have been subjected to stocking only during the past few hundred years. We studied 20 species-poor lakes located in two remote island groups with contrasting climates, but similar seasonality: the Faroe Islands (cold; 6.5 ± 2.8 °C annual average (SD) and the Azores Islands (warm; 17.3 ± 2.9 °C)). As for mainland lakes, mean body size of fish in the warmer lakes were smaller overall, and phytoplankton per unit of phosphorus higher. The δ13C carbon range for basal organisms, and for the whole food web, appeared wider in colder lakes. In contrast to previous works in continental fresh waters, Layman metrics of the fish food web were similar between the two climatic regions. Our results from insular systems provide further evidence that ambient temperatures, at least partially, drive the changes in fish size structure and the cascading effects found along latitude gradients in lakes.

SPESIASI DAN BIOGEOGRAFI IKAN DI KAWASAN SEGITIGA TERUMBU KARANG

The coral triangle is a region with the highest hotspot of fish biodiversity in the world. Factors to explain biodiversity in the coral triangle are varied widely. Factors as well as biogeography and speciation in evolutionary processes would explain the richness of fish species. The species formation theory in fish (speciation) is divided into allopatric, sympatric, and parapatric speciations. Biogeographically, the reason of what causes high biodiversity in the coral triangle area is divided into several models, namely: the center of origin, the center of overlap, the center of accumulation, the center of survival/refugia, and the mid domain effect/null model. This article will discuss the role and contribution of each mode/hypothesis in explaining coral triangle areas' biodiversity hotspots to provide information for biodiversity conservation of reef fishes in the future.

Mesophotic fish communities of the ancient coastline in Western Australia.

Marine diversity across the Australian continental shelf is shaped by characteristic benthic habitats which are determined by geomorphic features such as paleoshorelines. In north-western Australia there has been little attention on the fish communities that inhabit an ancient coastline at ~125 m depth (the designated AC125), which is specified as a key ecological feature (KEF) of the region and is thought to comprise hard substrate and support enhanced diversity. We investigated drivers of fish species richness and assemblage composition spanning six degrees of latitude along sections of the ancient coastline, categorised as ‘on’ and ‘off’ the AC125 based on depth, across a range of habitats and seafloor complexity (~60–180 m depth). While some surveyed sections of the AC125 had hard bottom substrate and supported enhanced fish diversity, including over half of the total species observed, species richness and abundance overall were not greater on the AC125 than immediately adjacent to the AC125. Instead, depth, seafloor complexity and habitat type explained patterns in richness and abundance, and structured fish assemblages at both local and broad spatial scales. Fewer fishes were associated with deep sites characterized by negligible complexity and soft-bottom habitats, in contrast to shallower depths that featured benthic biota and pockets of complex substrate. Drivers of abundance of common species were species-specific and primarily related to sampling Areas, depth and substrate. Fishes of the ancient coastline and adjacent habitats are representative of mesophotic fish communities of the region, included species important to fisheries and conservation, and several species were observed deeper than their currently known distribution. This study provides the first assessment of fish biodiversity associated with an ancient coastline feature, improving our understanding of the function it plays in regional spatial patterns in abundance of mesophotic fishes. Management decisions that incorporate the broader variety of depths and habitats surrounding the designated AC125 could enhance the ecological role of this KEF, contributing to effective conservation of fish biodiversity on Australia’s north west shelf.

The Diversity Of Fish Species In Inland Water Of Kampung (Village) Nasem In Merauke District

Wetland or stagnant swamp refers to an ecosystem of inland water that is vulnerable to population decline. Kampung Nasem in Merauke has quite promising fish resources. This research aimed to determine the diversity of fish species found in Kampung Nasem of Merauke. The fish sampling was performed for three months, from September to November 2017 at three research stations by functioning digital camera, ruler and manual as tools for documentation, while tool for fishing used gill net in the size of 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3 and 4 inches; casting nets and scoop net. Fish found in the field were preserved with 10% formalin for identification purpose in the laboratory. The observed biological parameters were species richness, diversity index (H’), evenness index (E) and dominance index (C). The research finding obtained 15 fish species richness coprising 11 native fish species and 5 introduced fish species. The value of H’ was classified into moderate while the uniformity value was high, hence the fish were spread evenly in each research site and no species was found with domination. In addition, the Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and Glass (Agrammus ambassadors) were species to have sufficient widespread distribution and numerous presence of presentation within the three research stations.

Seagrass Structural Traits Drive Fish Assemblages in Small-Scale Fisheries

Seagrasses – a group of foundation species in coastal ecosystems – provide key habitat for diverse and abundant faunal assemblages and support numerous ecosystem functions and services. However, whether the habitat role of seagrasses is influenced by seagrass diversity, by dominant species or both, remains unclear. To that end, we sought to investigate the specific seagrass characteristics (e.g., species diversity, seagrass traits) that influence tropical fish assemblages, and place this in the context of small-scale fishery use. We surveyed seagrass variables at 55 plots, nested within 12 sites around Zanzibar (Tanzania) in the Western Indian Ocean, and used Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV) systems to assess fish assemblages across plots. Using linear mixed models, we reveal that seagrass structural complexity and depth were the best predictors of fish abundance, with higher abundance occurring in deeper meadows or meadows with high canopy, leaf length and number of leaves per shoot. Moreover, an interaction between seagrass cover and land-use was the best predictor of fish species richness, where sites closer to human impacts were less affected by cover than sites with lower human impact. Overall, models with seagrass species richness or functional diversity as predictors poorly explained fish assemblages. Fish taxa that were important for small-scale fishery sectors (e.g., emperors, snappers, rabbitfish, and parrotfish) were primarily driven by seagrass structural complexity. Our results provide a unique analysis of the relationship between seagrass habitat and its associated fish assemblages in that we show that seagrass species diversity had little effect on seagrass fish assemblages, which instead appear driven by specific seagrass traits and seagrass cover. If conserving high value species that support adjacent fisheries is the priority for protecting seagrass meadows, then seagrass areas should be chosen with high cover and structural complexity that are in deeper waters. Any conservation measures also need to balance the needs of fishers that use the resources supported by seagrasses.

Waterfalls mediate the longitudinal distribution of diadromous predatory fishes structuring communities in tropical, short, steep coastal streams

Abstract Tropical short, steep coastal streams are typically dominated by diadromous species, especially amphidromous fishes, crustaceans, and molluscs. We undertook a study to determine the distribution of fishes along the stream continuum and determine if substantial natural instream barriers influenced assemblage composition. We surveyed fish assemblages in three short, steep coastal streams in the Australian Wet Tropics by snorkelling and performing single pass counts in each 100‐m section along the entire main channel from the high‐tide mark to the source (or near source: until fish were no longer recorded). A primary focus was mapping the distribution and relative abundance of sicydiine gobies, and we also estimated freshwater crustacean numbers (Caridea: Palaemonidae and Atyidae). In total, 2,837 individual fish of 25 species were recorded upstream of the high‐tide mark across the three streams and the first records of an additional sicydiine goby (Smilosicyopus leprurus) were obtained from continental Australia. Consistent with findings from tropical Pacific island streams, we observed a shift in fish assemblage composition along the elevation gradient and in relation to major instream barriers (e.g. waterfalls >5 m, and high flow chutes across smooth bedrock surfaces). Species richness of diurnal predatory fishes was greatest in the lower course of streams and absent upstream of major instream barriers. Diurnal predatory fishes were, in some instances, found upstream of barriers. Specifically, large adult (>200 mm total length) Kuhlia rupestris (diurnal predators) accessed reaches above challenging sequences of cascades combined with small waterfalls. In contrast, all sizes of that species, adult Kuhlia marginata (>150 mm total length) and a diversity of other diurnal predatory fishes occupied the lower course of streams including upstream of gentle cascade sequences or isolated small waterfalls. Where abundances of diurnal predatory fishes were high, freshwater carideans were rarely observed. Peak densities of carideans were observed upstream of major barriers, with moderate densities in the upper mid‐course in the presence of few Kuhlia spp. The current study demonstrates the value of complete single‐pass surveys of fish assemblages in tropical short, steep coastal streams by revealing the highly localised occupation of particular reaches by rare fishes. It also points towards the importance of stream‐specific characteristics, namely the position of waterfalls in dictating diadromous predator distribution with consequences for community structure, thereby aligning with the Riverine Discontinuum Concept.

Application of 3D Digital Modeling Technology in the Display of Marine Fish Science in the South China Sea

A The richness of marine fish species in the South China Sea and the popularization of marine culture are beneficial to people’s further understanding of the sea and can enhance marine awareness. With the rapid development of computer and information age, 3D scanning technology, 2D image digital recognition technology, AI artificial intelligence technology and other new technologies are combined into 3D digital modeling technology. However, 3D digital modeling technology is constantly updated, how to use 3D digital modeling technology to display the marine fish in the South China Sea, and how to use 3D next-generation technology to portray details and other technologies to more deeply express biological characteristics and restore science records is still a problem worth exploring.