Comprehensive Analysis of Fish Assemblages in Relation to Seasonal Environmental Variables in an Estuarine River of Indian Sundarbans

Mukherjee, Sudeshna; Chaudhuri, Atreyee; Kundu, Niloy; Mitra, Sruti; Homechaudhuri, Sumit

doi:10.1007/s12237-012-9558-z

Cited by 32 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Spatial and seasonal patterns of the fish assemblage in relation to the environmental gradients were detected in the PRE. In this study, mouth distance, NH 4 + N, chlorophyll‐a, flow, DO, salinity and water transparency, which have been shown to be important determinants of spatial and temporal assemblage structure in many other estuaries (Martino & Able, ; Mukherjee, Chaudhuri, Kundu, Mitra, & Homechaudhuri, ; Selleslagh & Amara, ; Shaffer et al, ; Whitfield, ), are confirmed as the environmental variables significantly influence spatial‐seasonal patterns of fish assemblages in the PRE. In space, fish assemblage differs longitudinally.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

“…Estuary (Thiel & Potter, 2001) S1 S1 S1 S2 S2 S2 S3 S3 S3 S4 S4 S4 S5 S5 S5 S6 S6 S6 S7 S7 S7 S8 S8 S8 S10 S10 S10 S9 S9 S9 S11 S11 S11 determinants of spatial and temporal assemblage structure in many other estuaries (Martino & Able, 2003;Mukherjee, Chaudhuri, Kundu, Mitra, & Homechaudhuri, 2013;Selleslagh & Amara, 2008;Shaffer et al, 2009;Whitfield, 1999), are confirmed as the environmental variables significantly influence spatial-seasonal patterns of fish assemblages in the PRE. In space, fish assemblage differs longitudinally.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

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Fish assemblage in the Pearl River Estuary: Spatial‐seasonal variation, environmental influence and trends over the past three decades

et al. 2019

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The Pearl River Estuary is the largest estuary in South China and plays a considerable role in the local fisheries economy, yet little is known about the current state of fish assemblage in this ecosystem. To quantify spatial‐seasonal variations, environmental influences, and trends over the past three decades of the fish assemblage in the Pearl River Estuary, we sampled 11 sites seasonally from December 2013 to September 2016. Throughout the study, 285 species from 88 families and 195 genera were collected. There were obvious spatial and seasonal variations of the fish assemblage in terms of the dominant species, species richness, and composition of ecological types. Mouth distance, NH4+ N, chlorophyll‐a, flow, DO, salinity and water transparency were the main variables influencing the spatial‐temporal dynamic of fishes within the estuarine systems. Compared with the record of 330 species in the 1980s, the number of fish species in the Pearl River Estuary has declined by 45 fish species. The Jaccard's similarity of fish composition between the historical investigation (the 1980's) and the present investigation (2013–2016) was 0.62, with 95 species undiscovered and 50 species increased in the present study compared to the 1980s, indicating the assemblage structure has obviously changed. However, in term of ecological guilds, there was no significant difference in the composition of all the selected ecological traits between these two periods. Anthropogenic activities including overfishing, introducing alien fish, dam construction and pollution were considered the main disturbance on fish composition over the past three decades. We conclude that there existed pronounced spatiotemporal changes of fish assemblages, which arises from the compounding effects of environmental factors and anthropogenic activities. These findings are beneficial to understanding and developing suitable conservation strategies for the management and protection of fish resources in the Pearl River Estuary.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Fish assemblage in the Pearl River Estuary: Spatial‐seasonal variation, environmental influence and trends over the past three decades

et al. 2019

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“…For example, Mediterranean stream fish community composition was strongly influenced by a sequence of regular and often extreme flooding and drying periods (Gasith & Resh, 1999). Estuarine fish communities also showed distinctly seasonal changes in the composition and relative abundance of species due to constant seasonal shifts in environmental and hydrological factors, such as salinity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen levels (Simier et al, 2004;Mukherjee et al, 2013). Similar results were also found in a mountain stream of north of the Tiaoxi River in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River .…”

Section: Temporal Variation Of Fish Assemblagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrologic connectivity driven natural stream fish assemblages in mountain streams in the Yangtze River basin: implications for stream fish conservation in monsoonal East Asia

Kang

Tao

et al. 2016

Hydrobiologia

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The East Asian monsoon and related seasonal rain belts are assumed to be significantly variable at intraseasonal, interannual, and interdecadal time scales, and largely determine the hydrology and ecological processes of the streams and rivers in this region. This study investigated the spatiotemporal variation in fish assemblages and the relative importance of local habitat and regional landscape variables in two protected streams in the middle Yangtze River basin. We hypothesized that the stream fish assemblages in this area are strongly influenced by the monsoon climate, and display a spatiotemporal variation in response to changes of stream flow regimes and physical habitats. The results show that species richness and abundance varied with both season and stream size. The distance to the downstream confluence site was the top important environmental factor, followed by altitude and downstream link. The results suggest that the fish assemblages within this protected watershed are mainly affected by regional landscape variables such as longitudinal position and stream position, but less by local habitat variables including water temperature and habitat types. The study highlights the importance of tributary connectivity and continuity to stream fish diversity in this area, indicating that restoration activities should preferentially recover the connectivity between upstream and downstream.Handling editor: M. Power

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“…Similarly, low salinities in the middle and upper reaches of the Gambia Estuary (West Africa) meant that most marine fish species were confined to the more saline lower reaches during the rainy season . The onset of the rainy monsoon season in the Matla Estuary of the Sundarban system (India) also resulted in changes to local fish assemblages, driven mainly by changes in salinity and dissolved oxygen (Mukherjee et al, 2013).…”

Section: Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Why are there so few freshwater fish species in most estuaries?

Whitfield

2015

Journal of Fish Biology

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The freshwater fish assemblage in most estuaries is not as species rich as the marine assemblage in the same systems. Coupled with this differential richness is an apparent inability by most freshwater fish species to penetrate estuarine zones that are mesohaline (salinity: 5·0-17·9), polyhaline (salinity: 18·0-29·9) or euhaline (salinity: 30·0-39·9). The reason why mesohaline waters are avoided by most freshwater fishes is difficult to explain from a physiological perspective as many of these species would be isosmotic within this salinity range. Perhaps, a key to the poor penetration of estuarine waters by freshwater taxa is an inability to develop chloride cells in gill filament epithelia, as well as a lack of other osmoregulatory adaptations present in euryhaline fishes. Only a few freshwater fish species, especially some of those belonging to the family Cichlidae, have become fully euryhaline and have successfully occupied a wide range of estuaries, sometimes even dominating in hyperhaline systems (salinity 40+). Indeed, this review found that there are few fish species that can be termed holohaline (i.e. capable of occupying waters with a salinity range of 0-100+) and, of these taxa, there is a disproportionally high number of freshwater species (e.g. Cyprinodon variegatus, Oreochromis mossambicus and Sarotherodon melanotheron). Factors such as increased competition for food and higher predation rates by piscivorous fishes and birds may also play an important role in the low species richness and abundance of freshwater taxa in estuaries. Added to this is the relatively low species richness of freshwater fishes in river catchments when compared with the normally higher diversity of marine fish species for potential estuarine colonization from the adjacent coastal waters. The almost complete absence of freshwater fish larvae from the estuarine ichthyoplankton further reinforces the poor representation of this guild within these systems. An explanation as to why more freshwater fish species have not become euryhaline and occupied a wide range of estuaries similar to their marine counterparts is probably due to a combination of the above described factors, with physiological restrictions pertaining to limited salinity tolerances probably playing the most important role.

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Comprehensive Analysis of Fish Assemblages in Relation to Seasonal Environmental Variables in an Estuarine River of Indian Sundarbans

Cited by 32 publications

References 39 publications

Fish assemblage in the Pearl River Estuary: Spatial‐seasonal variation, environmental influence and trends over the past three decades

Fish assemblage in the Pearl River Estuary: Spatial‐seasonal variation, environmental influence and trends over the past three decades

Hydrologic connectivity driven natural stream fish assemblages in mountain streams in the Yangtze River basin: implications for stream fish conservation in monsoonal East Asia

Why are there so few freshwater fish species in most estuaries?

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