Fish Communities, Habitat Use, and Human Pressures in the Upper Volta Basin, Burkina Faso, West Africa

Abstract

Human pressures and loss of natural fish habitats led to a decline in fish populations in terms of abundances, biodiversity, and average size in sub-Sahelian Burkina Faso. Little knowledge exists about fish assemblages regarding their composition, their habitat preferences, or their sensitivity to or tolerance of human pressures. This research provides the first data-driven basis for sustainably managing fish and associated aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Surveys in four different regions sampled 18,000 specimens from 69 species during the dry season. Fish communities, available abiotic habitat conditions, habitat use, and human pressures were assessed and analyzed. Fish communities cluster into four distinct types, each dominated by either Cichlidae, Clariidae, Cyprinidae, or Alestidae and accompanied by specific other families and genera of fish. Habitat preferences of four key species (Labeo coubie, Bagrus bajad, Chelaethiops bibie, and Lates niloticus) were linked to ecological habitat conditions. Results show that physical parameters influence fish community composition and abundances and, when indexed according to pressure type, are linked to responses in fish metrics. Relative abundance either dropped (Mormyridae) or increased (Cichlidae, Cyprinidae) with rising pressure intensity, and some sentinel taxa (Auchenoglanis, Hydrocynus) were only found in low-pressure sites. The outcomes of this study provide basic knowledge of habitat availability, habitat use by fish, species associations, and human pressures and therefore provide the basis for effective conservation and management of fish populations.

Ecological status of a newly impounded sub-saharan reservoir based on benthic macroinvertebrates community (Burkina Faso, West Africa)

“…Other studies have underlined the importance of physical-chemical variables for biomonitoring in tropical streams (Thorne and Williams, 1997;Lakew and Moog, 2015). Indeed, authors have demonstrated that the intense land use in riparian zone can deteriorate the quality of water physical and chemical variables (Kaboré et al, 2018;Meulenbroek et al, 2019). In this study, the values of the main physicochemical variables are similar to those obtained by Kaboré et al (2018) in the reference sites of Burkina Faso.…”

“…Here we found also a strong and negative correlation between the electrical conductivity and EOTtaxa. Indeed, the high conductivity is often an indicator of water pollution because it is likely to be affected by different riparian land use types (DeTroyer et al, 2016;Kaboré et al, 2016aKaboré et al, , c, 2018Meulenbroek et al, 2019).…”

Genetic diversity of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) populations in Ethiopia: insights from nuclear DNA microsatellites and implications for conservation

“…Deforestation, habitat degradation, and overfishing were identified as major threats to natural fish population in sub-Saharan Africa and the same applies to Ethiopia (e.g. [ 23 , 37 , 66 ]). Pollution and lake level changes will exacerbate the reduction of populations sizes and thus speed genetic drift effect further reducing genetic diversity of fish populations [ 23 ].…”

Preliminary biological data of Sahel wetland ecosystems in Burkina Faso: Implications for ecological health assessment

“…In situ parameters such as, pH, electrical conductivity (Cond), temperature, and dissolved oxygen (Oxy) were measured with field multimeters (WTW 340i) before fish and macroinvertebrate sampling. Fish communities were sampled in Koubri (05 sites) and Nazinga (06 sites) using two types of equipment including electric fishing and cast net, and the habitats type were noted following sampling approach described by (Meulenbroek et al, 2019). For electric fishing, the backpack-generator ELT60-IIH from Hans Grassl was applied.…”