INALI   02622
INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE LIMNOLOGIA
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Discrimination of hydrologic variations for spatial distribution of fish assemblage in a large subtropical temperate river
Autor/es:
RABUFFETTI, ANA P.; BLETTLER, MARTIN C.M.; ABRIAL, ELIE; AMSLER, MARIO L.; PAIRA, ALDO R.; ESPÍNOLA, LUIS A.; SIM?ES, NADSON R.; EURICH, MARIA F.
Revista:
ECOHYDROLOGY
Editorial:
JOHN WILEY & SONS INC
Referencias:
Lugar: New York; Año: 2019
ISSN:
1936-0584
Resumen:
This study examines the effects of the flow and flood pulses on spatial dispersion of fish assemblages in the floodplain of the Paraná River in Argentina. We tested the hypothesis that high water levels and greater lateral connectivity promote fish dispersal and spatial homogenization of assemblage structure. We sampled four sites during different phases of the annual hydrologic cycle from 2010 to 2016. Water surface in the area was estimated during each phase. We computed multivariate statistics and estimates of ß‐diversity to analyse assemblage variations in relation to hydrological phases. Three hydrological phases were defined: low flow pulses (water levels between 2.3 and 3.2, approximately 10% of the floodplain covered by water), high flow pulses (between 3.2 and 4.5, from 11 to 84%), and floods (> 4.5 m, more than 84%). Although difference between high flow pulses and flood was not significant, ß‐diversity values for these stages were higher than for low flow pulses. This suggests that floods and high flow pulses increase the spatial variability of fish assemblages, whereas homogenization processes occur later during low flow periods. This work provides further knowledge about the flood homogenization effect in a large unregulated floodplain where lateral connectivity still plays a significant role on ecological structuring processes.