ISSN:
1600-0633
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Biology
,
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
Notes:
Abstract– In this study we asked whether the fish populations of residual pools in a seasonally fluctuating African river varied between years. We used a series of data on the fish of the permanent floodplain pools of the River Sokoto, Nigeria compiled by M. J. Holden (1963) to address this objective. Holden provided estimates for the size and biomass of fish populations in 12 permanent dry season pools over a period of 2 to 3 years. On average, only 22% of the species present in a pool were absent from that pool in the following sampling period. Despite low interannual variability in the species composition of the pools, rank correlation analysis indlcated significant variation in the relative numbers and biomass of the 10 most numerically abundant species in most pools. Altering the spatial scale of analysis to include all possible combinations of 2 and 6 pools did not affect the results. Indices of similarity also indicated relatively high annual variability in the relative abundance of species in the pool communities. We suggest that habitat selection may contribute to the continued occurrence of fish species in pools from year to year, and such factors as changes in the overall abundance of fish species in the system and haphazard trapping during flood decline may contribute to annual variation in their relative abundance.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0633.1993.tb00013.x
