Species-Area Relationship for Stream Fishes

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dc.contributor.authorAngermeier, Paul L.en
dc.contributor.authorSchlosser, I. J.en
dc.contributor.departmentFish and Wildlife Conservationen
dc.date.accessed2014-03-11en
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-27T13:06:05Zen
dc.date.available2014-03-27T13:06:05Zen
dc.date.issued1989-10en
dc.description.abstractWe sampled riffles and pool habitats of small streams in Minnesota, Illinois, and Panama to examine variation in species-area relationships within and between the respective fish faunas. For six of the seven steams studies, habitat lume was a better predictor of species richness than was habitat area, and number of individuals was a better predictor of species richness than habitat volume. Slopes of species-volume relationships were similar among regions, but the number of species per unit volume was greater in Panama. Multiple regression analyses indicated that knowledge of habitat complexity and volume did not enhance appreciably the capability of linear models to predict species richness from number of individuals in the sample. These results support the hypothesis that species-area relationships may often be epiphenomena stemming from the more comprehensive community "samples" intercepted by larger habitat patches. Although number of individuals was the best single predictor of species richness, habitat structure and type clearly influenced species' distributions in some streams, thereby indicating that species-area relationships were not strictly sampling phenomena. An index of habitat complexity based on depth, current, and bottom type was correlated with species richness in two Panama streams. Also, the abundance of individual species was more likely to be correlated with habitat volume in Panama than in Illinois or Minnesota, and species relative abundances were more similar between years in Panama than in Illinois or Minnesota streams, especially in pools. These patterns suggest that in streams subject to strong seasonal and annual environmental variation, habitat features are poorer predictors of fish distribution and abundance than in streams subject to less environmental variability. We speculate that annual variability in reproductive success and harsh winters interact to maintain imbalance between the fish assemblages and their habitat in Minnesota. Weak relationships between species richness and habitat volume or complexity may be indicative of population variability and the predominance of extinction/recolonization processes in community organization.en
dc.description.sponsorshipUnited States Environmental Protection Agency Grant (R806391)en
dc.description.sponsorshipNational Science Foundation Grant (BSR 8320371)en
dc.description.sponsorshipVirginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheriesen
dc.identifier.citationPaul L. Angermeier and Isaac J. Schlosser 1989. Species-Area Relationship for Stream Fishes. Ecology 70:1450-1462. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1938204en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.2307/1938204en
dc.identifier.issn0012-9658en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/46843en
dc.identifier.urlhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/1938204en
dc.language.isoen_USen
dc.publisherEcological Society of Americaen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectassemblage organizationen
dc.subjectfishesen
dc.subjecthabitat volumeen
dc.subjectIllinoisen
dc.subjectMinnesotaen
dc.subjectPanamaen
dc.subjectpoolen
dc.subjectriffleen
dc.subjectspecies-area relationshipsen
dc.subjectstreamsen
dc.titleSpecies-Area Relationship for Stream Fishesen
dc.title.serialEcologyen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden

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