Biodiversity and conservation of freshwater fishes in selected rivers on Choiseul Island, Solomon Islands

Abstract

During a terrestrial biodiversity survey of Choiseul Island, we conducted freshwater fish surveys in seven sites between July 2005 and August 2006. We found 32 fish species from 15 families (38% of known Solomon Island freshwater fish). Most species were uncommon with the exception of Kuhlia marginata (6/7 sites), K. rupestris (5/7 sites) and Glossogobius sp. 1 (5/7 sites). No introduced species were found in any of the sites. Species richness ranged from 2-14 species per site and was highest in Lumutu River and Kolombangara River. This difference between sites is partially attributed to substrate type (higher richness in sites with gravel substrates than mud) and distance from the coast (higher richness near the coast than inland). The results of this survey in conjunction with a previous survey bring the total number of freshwater fish species on Choiseul Island to 41. This diversity is threatened by habitat degradation through sedimentation and over harvesting of some species. We recommend a number of activities to ameliorate these threats including seasonal banning of fish harvest during breeding periods and mass juvenile migrations, discouraging the practice of streamside agriculture, and education of locals on the negative impacts of logging on watershed health and productivity.

Amphidromy Links a Newly Documented Fish Community of Continental Australian Streams, to Oceanic Islands of the West Pacific

“…First, the fish community data collected from 1) coastal Wet Tropics streams (CWTS) were compared with detailed presence/absence lists from 2) West Pacific island streams (WPIS) ( Fig. 2 ) [2] , [31] , [32] , [33] , [34] (data also supplemented from www.fishbase.org ), 3) Wet Tropics rivers (stream order ≥5) (WTR) [35] and 4) Papua New Guinea Rivers (PNGR) [36] , [37] . It could be argued that a large dissimilarity in community structure was expected in the latter two comparisons, due to the dichotomy in physical size between the study streams and these larger continental rivers.…”

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

“…This approach is likely to be especially useful when applied more widely beyond the edges of known species ranges for sicydiines where species are potentially patchily distributed and at low density. In turn, this would improve the wider international effort toward mapping sicydiines including on islands (Boseto et al, 2007;Keith et al, 2015) and particularly in a subset of catchments on continents (Ebner & Thuesen, 2010;Maeda et al, 2015;Nip, 2010;Thuesen et al, 2011). (Keith, 2003).…”

New Insights on Biodiversity and Conservation of Amphidromous Shrimps of the Indo-Pacific islands (Decapoda: Atyidae: Caridina)

“…The direct impacts of habitat degradation occur through impact through pollution of the rivers by pesticides (Kumar et al, 2010a ;Kumar et al, 2010b), industrial accidents (Dominique, 2014), illegal poisoning (Greathouse et al, 2005), use of the rivers as dumps (Keith et al, 2006), eutrophication by fertilizers, poisoning and causing the proliferation of algae clogging the rivers, or increased sedimentation from mining, gravel extraction, or constructions (dams, roads, etc.) smothering the stream bed, and increasing water turbidity (Boseto et al, 2007;Keith et al, 2013). Habitat destruction also occurs through the removal of water from river systems for agriculture, industry or tourism, causing physical changes (e.g.…”