Development of habitat suitability criteria for Neotropical stream fishes and an assessment of their transferability to streams with different conservation status

Author(s)

Fabrício Barreto Teresa ^[1] ; Lilian Casatti ^[2]

Affiliation

^[1] Universidade Estadual de Goiás - Brasil

^[2] Univ Estadual Paulista UNESP, Lab Ictiol, Dept Zool & Bot, IBILCE, BR-15054000 Sao Jose Do Rio Preto, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Neotropical Ichthyology; v. 11, n. 2, p. 395-402, 2013-06-18.

Abstract

We assessed the preference of 10 fish species for depth and velocity conditions in forested streams from southeastern Brazil using habitat suitability criteria (HSC curves). We also tested whether preference patterns observed in forested streams can be transferred to deforested streams. We used data from fish sampled in 62 five-meter sites in three forested streams to construct preference curves. Astyanax altiparanae, A. fasciatus, Knodus moenkhausii, and Piabina argentea showed a preference for deep slow habitats, whereas Aspidoras fuscoguttatus, Characidium zebra, Cetopsorhamdia iheringi, Pseudopimelodus pulcher, and Hypostomus nigromaculatus showed an opposite pattern: preference for shallow fast habitats. Hypostomus ancistroides showed a multimodal pattern of preference for depth and velocity. To evaluate whether patterns observed in forested streams may be transferred to deforested streams, we sampled 64 five-meters sites in three deforested streams using the same methodology. The preference for velocity was more consistent than for depth, as success in the transferability criterion was 86% and 29% of species, respectively. This indicates that velocity is a good predictor of species abundance in streams, regardless of their condition (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 08/03583-9 - Composition and functional diversity of stream fish assemblages
• Grantee: Fabrício Barreto Teresa
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate