Multivariate approaches in species distribution modelling: Application to native fish species in Mediterranean Rivers

Tesis por compendioThis dissertation focused in the comprehensive analysis of the capabilities of some non-tested types of Artificial Neural Networks, specifically: the Probabilistic Neural Networks (PNN) and the Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) Ensembles. The analysis of the capabilities of these techniques was performed using the native brown trout (Salmo trutta; Linnaeus, 1758), the bermejuela (Achondrostoma arcasii; Robalo, Almada, Levy & Doadrio, 2006) and the redfin barbel (Barbus haasi; Mertens, 1925) as target species. The analyses focused in the predictive capabilities, the interpretability of the models and the effect of the excess of zeros in the training datasets, which for presence-absence models is directly related to the concept of data prevalence (i.e. proportion of presence instances in the training dataset). Finally, the effect of the spatial scale (i.e. micro-scale or microhabitat scale and meso-scale) in the habitat suitability models and consequently in the e-flow assessment was studied in the last chapter.Esta tesis se centra en el análisis comprensivo de las capacidades de algunos tipos de Red Neuronal Artificial aún no testados: las Redes Neuronales Probabilísticas (PNN) y los Conjuntos de Perceptrones Multicapa (MLP Ensembles). Los análisis sobre las capacidades de estas técnicas se desarrollaron utilizando la trucha común (Salmo trutta; Linnaeus, 1758), la bermejuela (Achondrostoma arcasii; Robalo, Almada, Levy & Doadrio, 2006) y el barbo colirrojo (Barbus haasi; Mertens, 1925) como especies nativas objetivo. Los análisis se centraron en la capacidad de predicción, la interpretabilidad de los modelos y el efecto del exceso de ceros en las bases de datos de entrenamiento, la así llamada prevalencia de los datos (i.e. la proporción de casos de presencia sobre el conjunto total). Finalmente, el efecto de la escala (micro-escala o escala de microhábitat y meso-escala) en los modelos de idoneidad del hábitat y consecuentemente en la evaluación de caudales ambientales se estudió en el último capítulo.Aquesta tesis se centra en l'anàlisi comprensiu de les capacitats d'alguns tipus de Xarxa Neuronal Artificial que encara no han estat testats: les Xarxes Neuronal Probabilístiques (PNN) i els Conjunts de Perceptrons Multicapa (MLP Ensembles). Les anàlisis sobre les capacitats d'aquestes tècniques es varen desenvolupar emprant la truita comuna (Salmo trutta; Linnaeus, 1758), la madrilla roja (Achondrostoma arcasii; Robalo, Almada, Levy & Doadrio, 2006) i el barb cua-roig (Barbus haasi; Mertens, 1925) com a especies objecte d'estudi. Les anàlisi se centraren en la capacitat predictiva, interpretabilitat dels models i en l'efecte de l'excés de zeros a la base de dades d'entrenament, l'anomenada prevalença de les dades (i.e. la proporció de casos de presència sobre el conjunt total). Finalment, l'efecte de la escala (micro-escala o microhàbitat i meso-escala) en els models d'idoneïtat de l'hàbitat i conseqüentment en l'avaluació de cabals ambientals es va estudiar a l'últim capítol.Muñoz Mas, R. (2016). Multivariate approaches in species distribution modelling: Application to native fish species in Mediterranean Rivers [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/76168TESISCompendi

Comparison of approaches for the development of microhabitat suitability models based on fuzzy logic

[ES] La trucha comun (Salmo trutta L.) ha sido utilizada como indicador del estado ecológico. Los modelos de hábitat evaluan la idoneidad del hábitat en base a las condiciones físicas como por ejemplo la velocidad del flujo o el calado. Existen diversas metodologías para analizar la idoneidad y desarrollar modelos de idoneidad del hábitat no obstante el desarrollo de Curvas univariantes de Idoneidad del Hábitat (en terminología inglesa, HSCs) ha sido, de lejos, la metodología más habitual. Existen dos metodologías principales en el desarrollo de las HSCs. El primero considera solamente las condiciones observadas en los lugares donde aparecieron los peces (HSCs de Categoría II ½) mientras que la segunda también considera las condiciones observadas en el área circundante (HSCs de Categoría III). Diversos autores han sugerido que considerar las variables hidráulicas de forma independiente puede ser cuestionable. Por lo tanto el uso de metodologías multivariantes entre los investigadores se ha ido incrementado. Entre estas la lógica difusa es una de las que más veces ha sido aplicada exitosamente. La lógica difusa imita la forma de pensamiento humana, así usa una secuencia SI-ENTONCES. Si ciertas condiciones se dan entonces la idoneidad del hábitat es esta. Principalmente existen dos metodologías en el desarrollo de modelos de lógica difusa El basado en conocimiento de expertos (en terminología inglesa, Expert-knowledge) y el basado en datos (en terminología inglesa, Data-driven). El Expert-knowledge se basa en referencias bibliográficas y el consenso entre científicos mientras que el segundo es basa en la optimización de los elementos que componen el modelo en base a datos de campo. Este trabajo presenta una metodología para el desarrollo de modelos de lógica difusa Expert-knowledge basados en HSCs comparando los resultados con aquellos obtenidos mediente la metodología Data-driven. Específicamente tres modelos fueron desarrollados para las tres clases de talla consideradas, trucha común adulta-grande (> 20 cm), juvenil-median (20 - 10 cm) y alevín-pequeña (< 10 cm). Dos de los modelas se basaron en la metodología de Expert-knowledge pero diferían en las HSCs de base, un se basó en HSCs de Categoría II ½ y el otro en las de Categoria III, el modelo restante utilizó lametodología de Data-driven. Los 9 modelos desarrollados fueron validados de forma espacialmente explícita en un tramo de rio independiente y su desempeño fue comparado por medio del estadístico Kappa difuso (en terminología inglesa, fuzzy Kappa) La metodología de Expert-knowledge presentada en este trabajo ha devenido satisfactoria. Mostró un buen desempeño y no difirió substancialmente en comparación con la Data-driven a pesar del hecho que los modelos de Expert-knowledge basados en las HSCs de Categoría II ½ subestimaron la idoneidad en las zonas profundas para adultos y juveniles. Los modelos basados en las HSCs de Categoría III presentaron mejor desempeño que sus contrapartidas basadas en las HSCs de Categoría II ½ en el caso de los adultos y los alevines por lo que se recomendaron per a ulteriores análisis. No obstante los modelos de Expert-knowledge presentaron menor especificidad en comparación con los Data-driven. Por esta razón en el caso de los juveniles el modelo Data-driven fue el recomendado para futuros análisis. La comparativa entre modelos basada en el estadístico fuzzy Kappa no mostró similitudes entre modelos y la validación espacial se demostró fundamental en la selección del modelo más adecuado entre los modelos desarrollados.[EN] Brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) have been used as an indicator of ecological status. Habitat models assess habitat suitability based on physical conditions such flow velocity or water depth are. There are several methodologies to analyse the suitability and to develop habitat suitability models but, at the microscale, the development of continuous univariate Habitat Suitability Curves (HSCs) is by far the most common approach. Two main methodologies exist in the development of HSCs. The first one considers only the conditions observed at the fish locations (Category II ½ HSCs) whereas the second one considers also the conditions observed in the surrounding area (Category III HSCs) Several authors have suggested that considering each hydraulic variable independently may be questionable. Therefore the use of multivariate approaches among researches have increased. The Fuzzy logic is one of those who has most successfully been applied. The fuzzy logic approach mimics the human reasoning thus are presented in an IF-THEN sequence. If certain conditions are resent then the habitat suitability is that. There are two main approaches in the development of Fuzzy logic models; the Expert-knowledge and the Data-driven. The Expert-knowledge approach is based on the literature and the consensus of scientists whereas the Data-driven approach is based on the optimization of the elements of the model based on field data. This study presented a methodology to develop Expert-knowledge fuzzy models based on HSCs and compared the results with those derived from the Data-driven approach. Specifically Three habitat suitability models were develop for the three considered size classes; brown trout adult-large (> 20 cm), juvenile-medium (20 - 10 cm) and fry-small (< 10 cm). Two models based on the Expert-knowledge approach but differing on the HSCs, Category II ½ HSCs or Category III HSCs and another model was based on the Data-driven approach. The 9 developed models were spatially explicitly validated in an independent river reach and their performance was compared by means of the fuzzy Kappa statistic. The Expert-knowledge approach herein presented have demonstrated satisfactory. It showed generally a good performance and did not differed substantially in comparison with the Data-driven approach despite the Expert-knowledge models based on Category II ½ HSCs underrated the deep areas in the adult and juvenile. The Category III based models presented better performances that the Category II ½ counterparts and the models for adult and fry were recommended for further analysis. However the Expert-knowledge models presented lower specificity in comparison with the Data-driven approach. Then, in the juvenile case the Data-driven fuzzy model was de recommended for further analysis. The comparison between models based on the fuzzy Kappa did not showed any similarity and the spatially explicit validation have been demonstrated fundamental in the proper selection between the developed models.Muñoz Mas, R. (2013). Comparison of approaches for the development of microhabitat suitability models based on fuzzy logic. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/37128Archivo delegad

Revisiting probabilistic neural networks: a comparative study with support vector machines and the microhabitat suitability for the Eastern Iberian chub (Squalius valentinus)

[EN] Probabilistic Neural Networks (PNNs) and Support Vector Machines (SVMs) are flexible classification techniques suited to render trustworthy species distribution and habitat suitability models. Although several alternatives to improve PNNs¿ reliability and performance and/or to reduce computational costs exist, PNNs are currently not well recognised as SVMs because the SVMs were compared with standard PNNs. To rule out this idea, the microhabitat suitability for the Eastern Iberian chub (Squalius valentinus Doadrio & Carmona, 2006) was modelled with SVMs and four types of PNNs (homoscedastic, heteroscedastic, cluster and enhanced PNNs); all of them optimised with differential evolution. The fitness function and several performance criteria (correctly classified instances, true skill statistic, specificity and sensitivity) and partial dependence plots were used to assess respectively the performance and reliability of each habitat suitability model. Heteroscedastic and enhanced PNNs achieved the highest performance in every index but specificity. However, these two PNNs rendered ecologically unreliable partial dependence plots. Conversely, homoscedastic and cluster PNNs rendered ecologically reliable partial dependence plots. Thus, Eastern Iberian chub proved to be a eurytopic species, presenting the highest suitability in microhabitats with cover present, low flow velocity (approx. 0.3 m/s), intermediate depth (approx. 0.6 m) and fine gravel (64¿256 mm). PNNs outperformed SVMs; thus, based on the results of the cluster PNN, which also showed high values of the performance criteria, we would advocate a combination of approaches (e.g., cluster & heteroscedastic or cluster & enhanced PNNs) to balance the trade-off between accuracy and reliability of habitat suitability models.The study has been partially funded by the national Research project IMPADAPT (CGL2013-48424-C2-1-R) with MINECO (Spanish Ministry of Economy) and Feder funds and by the Confederacion Hidrografica del Near (Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment). This study was also supported in part by the University Research Administration Center of the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. Thanks to Maria Jose Felipe for reviewing the mathematical notation and to the two anonymous reviewers who helped to improve the manuscript.Muñoz Mas, R.; Fukuda, S.; Portolés, J.; Martinez-Capel, F. (2018). Revisiting probabilistic neural networks: a comparative study with support vector machines and the microhabitat suitability for the Eastern Iberian chub (Squalius valentinus). Ecological Informatics. 43:24-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ECOINF.2017.10.008S24374

Risk of invasion predicted with support vector machines: A case study on northern pike (Esox Lucius, L.) and bleak (Alburnus alburnus, L.)

The impacts of invasive species are recognised as a major threat to global freshwater biodiversity. The risk of invasion (probability of presence) of two avowed invasive species, the northern pike (Esox Lucius, L.) and bleak (Alburnus alburnus, L.), was evaluated in the upper part of the Cabriel River (eastern Iberian Peninsula). Habitat suitability models for these invasive species were developed with Support Vector Machines (SVMs), which were trained with data collected downstream the Contreras dam (the last barrier impeding the invasion of the upper river segment). Although SVMs gained visibility in habitat suitability modelling, they cannot be considered widespread in ecology. Thus, with this technique, there is certain controversy about the necessity of performing variable selection procedures. In this study, the parameters tuning and the variable selection for the SVMs was simultaneously performed with a genetic algorithm and, contradicting previous studies in freshwater ecology, the variable selection proved necessary to achieve almost perfect accuracy. Further, the development of partial dependence plots allowed unveiling the relationship between the selected input variables and the probability of presence. Results revealed the preference of northern pike for large and wide mesohabitats with vegetated shores and abundant prey whereas bleak preferred deep and slightly fast flow mesohabitats with fine substrate. Both species proved able to colonize the upper part of the Cabriel River but the habitat suitability for bleak indicated a slightly higher risk of invasion. Altogether may threaten the endemic species that actually inhabit that stretch, especially the Jucar nase (Parachondrostoma arrigonis; Steindachner), which is one of the most critically endangered Iberian freshwater fish species. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.The study has been partially funded by the IMPADAPT project (CGL2013-48424-C2-1-R) with Spanish MINECO (Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad) and by the Confederacion Hidrografica del Jucar (Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment). We also want to thank all the colleagues who worked in the field data collection, especially Rui M. S. Costa and Aina Hernandez. Finally, we are especially grateful to Esther Lopez Fernandez who kindly and selflessly posed for the graphical abstract.Muñoz Mas, R.; Vezza, P.; Alcaraz-Hernández, JD.; Martinez-Capel, F. (2016). Risk of invasion predicted with support vector machines: A case study on northern pike (Esox Lucius, L.) and bleak (Alburnus alburnus, L.). Ecological Modelling. 342:123-134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2016.10.006S12313434

Shifts in the suitable habitat available for brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) under short-term climate change scenarios

The impact of climate change on the habitat suitability for large brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) was studied in a segment of the Cabriel River (Iberian Peninsula). The future flow and water temperature patterns were simulated at a daily time step with M5 models' trees (NSE of 0.78 and 0.97 respectively) for two short-term scenarios (2011 2040) under the representative concentration pathways (RCP 4.5 and 8.5). An ensemble of five strongly regularized machine learning techniques (generalized additive models, multilayer perceptron ensembles, random forests, support vector machines and fuzzy rule base systems) was used to model the microhabitat suitability (depth, velocity and substrate) during summertime and to evaluate several flows simulated with River2D©. The simulated flow rate and water temperature were combined with the microhabitat assessment to infer bivariate habitat duration curves (BHDCs) under historical conditions and climate change scenarios using either the weighted usable area (WUA) or the Boolean-based suitable area (SA). The forecasts for both scenarios jointly predicted a significant reduction in the flow rate and an increase in water temperature (mean rate of change of ca. &#8722;25% and +4% respectively). The five techniques converged on the modelled suitability and habitat preferences; large brown trout selected relatively high flow velocity, large depth and coarse substrate. However, the model developed with support vector machines presented a significantly trimmed output range (max.: 0.38), and thus its predictions were banned from the WUA-based analyses. The BHDCs based on the WUA and the SA broadly matched, indicating an increase in the number of days with less suitable habitat available (WUA and SA) and/or with higher water temperature (trout will endure impoverished environmental conditions ca. 82% of the days). Finally, our results suggested the potential extirpation of the species from the study site during short time spans.The study has been partially funded by the IMPADAPT project (CGL2013-48424-C2-1-R) - Spanish MINECO (Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad) - and FEDER funds and by the Confederacion Hidrografica del Jucar (Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment). We are grateful to the colleagues who worked in the field and in the preliminary data analyses, especially Juan Diego Alcaraz-Henandez, David Argibay, Aina Hernandez and Marta Bargay. Thanks to Matthew J. Cashman for the academic review of English. Finally, the authors would also to thank the Direccion General del Agua and INFRAECO for the cession of the trout data. The authors thank AEMET and UC by the data provided for this work (dataset Spain02).Muñoz Mas, R.; López Nicolás, AF.; Martinez-Capel, F.; Pulido-Velazquez, M. (2016). Shifts in the suitable habitat available for brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) under short-term climate change scenarios. Science of the Total Environment. 544:686-700. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.11.14768670054

Habitat evaluation for the endangered fish species Lefua echigonia in the Yagawa River, Japan

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Ecohydraulics on 2019, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/24705357.2019.1614886[EN] Spring-fed streams in Tokyo are important habitats for various aquatic species, whereas urbanization as well as introduction of invasive species is threatening the sustainability of such aquatic ecosystems. This study applies the System for Environmental Flow Analysis (SEFA) in a small urban river in Tokyo to assess the dynamics of the suitable habitats for the endangered freshwater fish Lefua echigonia (Jordan and Richardson 1907). A set of Habitat Suitability Curves (HSCs) for water depth, velocity and substrate was developed to evaluate the suitable habitats. The habitat assessment indicated that the Area Weighted Suitability (AWS) reached the maximum at 0.02 m3/s, which is close to the base flow of the target river; a gradual decrease in AWS was observed for higher flows. The temporal distribution of AWS, during forty-one consecutive months, showed that, on average, the best habitat conditions for adult L. echigonia occur during the period between January and July, whereas the worst situation occurs during the period between August and December. This work presents information and tools for instream habitat analysis that should help managers to conserve this aquatic species and prioritize actions to further rehabilitate urban rivers, using L. echigonia as a case study.We thank Dr. Masaomi Kimura, Masato Kondo, Taichi Kasahara, and Akihiro Tanaka for their support in the field survey. This study was made in part with the support of the JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Grant number: 17H03886 and 17H04631) and the PROMOE grant for Marina de Miguel Gallo, funded by the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, between April and August 2018.De-Miguel-Gallo, M.; Martinez-Capel, F.; Muñoz Mas, R.; Aihara, S.; Matsuzawa, Y.; Fukuda, S. (2019). Habitat evaluation for the endangered fish species Lefua echigonia in the Yagawa River, Japan. Journal of Ecohydraulics. 4(2):147-157. https://doi.org/10.1080/24705357.2019.1614886S14715742Bovee KD, Lamb BL, Bartholow JM, Stalnaker CB, Taylor J, Henriksen J. 1998. Stream habitat analysis using the instream flow incremental methodology. U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division Information and Technology Report USGS/BRD-1998-0004. Fort Collins: U.S. Geological Survey.Bovee KD. 1986. Development and evaluation of habitat suitability criteria for use in the instream flow incremental methodology. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Report, 86/7.Lambert TR. 1994. Evaluation of factors causing variability in habitat suitability criteria for Sierra Nevada trout. Environment, Health & Safety. Report 009.4-94.5. San Francisco: Pacific Gas and Electric Company.Martínez-Capel F. 2000. Preferencias de microhábitat de Barbus bocagei, Chondrostoma polylepis y Leuciscus pyrenaicus en la cuenca del río Tajo [PhD Dissertation]. Madrid: Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. (In Spanish)Matsuzawa Y, Aoki K, Fukuda S. 2017a. Critical swimming speed of Lefua echigonia in a laboratory open channel. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Irrigation Drainage and Reclamation Engineering (JSIDRE). ID: 4-30. Tokyo: Japanese Society of Irrigation Drainage and Reclamation Engineering.Matsuzawa Y, Ohira M, Fukuda S. 2017b. Microhabitat Modelling for an Endangered Freshwater Fish, Lefua Echigonia, in a Spring-Fed Urban Stream. E-Proceedings of the 37th IAHR World Congress. Kuala Lumpur: International Association for Hydro-environment Research and Engineering (IAHR).Poff NL. 2018. Beyond the natural flow regime? Broadening the hydro-ecological foundation to meet environmental flows challenges in a non-stationary world. Freshwater Biol. 63(8):1011–1021

Investigating the influence of habitat structure and hydraulics on tropical macroinvertebrate communities

[EN] The influences of habitat structure and hydraulics on tropical macroinvertebrate communities were investigated in two foothill rivers of the Udzungwa Mountains (United Republic of Tanzania) to assist future Environmental Flow Assessments (EFAs). Macroinvertebrate samples, hydraulic variables and habitat structure were collected at the microhabitat scale (n = 90). Macroinvertebrate communities were first delineated (i.e. clustered) through Poisson and negative binomial mixture models for count data in a semi-supervised mode by taking into account the sampled river. Then, genetically optimised Multi-Layer Perceptrons (MLPs) were used to identify the relationship of the most relevant variables with the delineated communities. Between the three delineated communities exclusively one community was shared between both rivers. The first and third communities presented similar values of richness (i.e. number of families) and diversity but the first was characterised by high abundance and was dominated by Baetidae (43.2%) while Hydropsychidae (36.3%) dominated the third community. The second community was dominated by Baetidae (33.4%), but it involved low abundance, richness and diversity samples and encompassed the microhabitats where no-macroinvertebrates were found. The performance of the MLP acknowledged the quality of the delineation and it indicated that the first community shows a clear affinity for microhabitats with aquatic vegetation and woody debris and the third for unshaded, fast flowing and shallow microhabitats on intermediate-sized substrate. Conversely, the second community occurred in deep and shaded microhabitats with low flow velocity and coarse substrate. We demonstrated that habitat structure and hydraulics are able to properly discriminate the macroinvertebrate communities, which, in turn, underlines their importance as drivers of community composition and abundance. Aquatic vegetation, woody debris, velocity and substrate index, followed by depth and shade, emerged as the most discriminant variables to understand macroinvertebrate communities in these tropical running waters. These results should enhance the implementation of ongoing and future EFA studies. (C) 2018 European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.This study was financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of the Technical Assistance to Support the Development of Irrigation and Rural Roads Infrastructure Project (IRRIP2), implemented by CDM International Inc. J. Sanchez-Hernandez was supported by a postdoctoral grant from the Galician Plan for Research, Innovation, and Growth (Plan I2C, Xunta de Galicia).Muñoz Mas, R.; Sánchez-Hernández, J.; Mcclain, M.; Tamatamah, R.; Mukama, SC.; Martinez-Capel, F. (2019). Investigating the influence of habitat structure and hydraulics on tropical macroinvertebrate communities. Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology. 19(3):339-350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecohyd.2018.07.005S33935019

Determining the macroinvertebrate community indicators and relevant environmental predictors of the Hun-Tai River Basin (Northeast China): A study based on community patterning

[EN] It is essential to understand the patterning of biota and environmental influencing factors for proper rehabilitation and management at the river basin scale. The Hun-Tai River Basin was extensively sampled four times for macroinvertebrate community and environmental variables during one year. Self-Organizing Maps (SOMs) were used to reveal the aggregation patterns of the 355 samples. Three community types (i.e., clusters) were found (at the family level) based on the community composition, which showed a clearly gradient by combining them with the representative environmental variables: minimally impacted source area, intermediately anthropogenic impacted sites, and highly anthropogenic impacted downstream area, respectively. This gradient was corroborated by the decreasing trends in density and diversity of macroinvertebrates. Distance from source, total phosphorus and water temperature were identified as the most important variables that distinguished the delineated communities. In addition, the sampling season, substrate type, pH and the percentage of grassland were also identified as relevant variables. These results demonstrated that macroinvertebrates communities are structured in a hierarchical manner where geographic and water quality prevail over temporal (season) and habitat (substrate type) features at the basin scale. In addition, it implied that the local-scale environment variables affected macroinvertebrates under the longitudinal gradient of the geographical and anthropogenic pressure. More than one family was identified as the indicator for each type of community. Abundance contributed significantly for distinguishing the indicators, while Baetidae with higher density indicated minimally and intermediately impacted area and lower density indicated highly impacted area. Therefore, we suggested the use of abundance data in community patterning and classification, especially in the identification of the indicator taxa. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51779275, 41501204, 51479219) and the IWHR Research & Development Support Program (WE0145B532017).Zhang, M.; Muñoz Mas, R.; Martinez-Capel, F.; Qu, X.; Zhang, H.; Peng, W.; Liu, X. (2018). Determining the macroinvertebrate community indicators and relevant environmental predictors of the Hun-Tai River Basin (Northeast China): A study based on community patterning. The Science of The Total Environment. 634:749-759. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.021S74975963

Microhabitat preferences of fish assemblages in the Udzungwa Mountains (Eastern Africa)

[EN] Environmental flow assessment (EFA) involving microhabitat preference models is a common approach to set ecologically friendly flow regimes in territories with ongoing or planned projects to develop river basins, such as many rivers of Eastern Africa. However, habitat requirements of many African fish species are poorly studied, which may impair EFAs. This study investigated habitat preferences of fish assemblages, based on species presence-absence data from 300 microhabitats collected in two tributaries of the Kilombero River (Tanzania), aiming to disentangle differences in habitat preferences of African species at two levels: assemblage (i.e. between tributaries) and species (i.e. species-specific habitat preferences). Overall, flow velocity, which implies coarser substrates and shallower microhabitats, emerged as the most important driver responsible of the changes in stream-dwelling assemblages at the microhabitat scale. At the assemblage level, we identified two important groups of species according to habitat preferences: (a) cover-orientated and limnophilic species, including Barbus spp., Mormyridae and Chiloglanis deckenii, and (b) rheophilic species, including Labeo cylindricus, Amphilius uranoscopus and Parakneria spekii. Rheophilic species preferred boulders, fast flow velocity and deeper microhabitats. At the species level, we identified species-specific habitat preferences. For instance, Barbus spp. preferred low flow velocity shallow depth and fine-to-medium substratum, whereas L. cylindricus and P. spekii mainly selected shallow microhabitats with coarse substrata. Knowledge of habitat preferences of these assemblages and species should enhance the implementation of ongoing and future EFA studies of the region.We thank C. Alexander and an anonymous referee for constructive comments on the submitted manuscript. This study was financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of the Technical Assistance to Support the Development of Irrigation and Rural Roads Infrastructure Project (IRRIP2), implemented by CDM International Inc. We are particularly grateful to the local people who helped us during the data collection. We also gratefully acknowledge individuals from organisations that collaborated in this research and especially the scientific committee that shared their knowledge of the Kilombero River basin. These individuals include the following: J.J. Kashaigili (SUA), K.N. Njau (NM. AIST), P.M. Ndomba (UDSM), F. Mombo (SUA), S. Graas (UNESCO- IHE), C.M. Mengo (RUFIJI BASIN), J.H. O'keeffe (Rhodes Univ.), S.M. Andrew (SUA), P. Paron (UNESCO-IHE), W. Kasanga (CDM Smith), and R. Tharme (RIVER FUTURES). R. Muñoz-Mas benefitted from a postdoctoral Juan de la Cierva fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (ref. FJCI-2016-30829) and J. Sánchez-Hernández was supported by a postdoctoral grant from the Galician Plan for Research, Innovation and Growth (Plan I2C, Xunta de Galicia). Additional funding was provided by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (projects CGL2016-80820-R and PCIN-2016-168) and the Government of Catalonia (ref. 2017 SGR 548).Muñoz-Mas, R.; Sánchez-Hernández, J.; Martinez-Capel, F.; Tamatamah, R.; Mohamedi, S.; Massinde, R.; Mcclain, ME. (2019). Microhabitat preferences of fish assemblages in the Udzungwa Mountains (Eastern Africa). Ecology Of Freshwater Fish. 28(3):473-484. https://doi.org/10.1111/eff.12469S473484283Akbaripasand, A., & Closs, G. P. (2017). Effects of food supply and stream physical characteristics on habitat use of a stream-dwelling fish. Ecology of Freshwater Fish, 27(1), 270-279. doi:10.1111/eff.12345Alexander, C., Poulsen, F., Robinson, D. C. E., Ma, B. O., … Luster, R. A. (2018). Improving Multi-Objective Ecological Flow Management with Flexible Priorities and Turn-Taking: A Case Study from the Sacramento River and Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science, 16(1). doi:10.15447/sfews.2018v16iss1/art2ALLOUCHE, S. (2002). NATURE AND FUNCTIONS OF COVER FOR RIVERINE FISH. Bulletin Français de la Pêche et de la Pisciculture, (365-366), 297-324. doi:10.1051/kmae:2002037Ardia, D., Boudt, K., Carl, P., Mullen, K., M., & Peterson, B., G. (2011). Differential Evolution with DEoptim. The R Journal, 3(1), 27. doi:10.32614/rj-2011-005Arthington, A. H., Bunn, S. E., Poff, N. L., & Naiman, R. J. (2006). THE CHALLENGE OF PROVIDING ENVIRONMENTAL FLOW RULES TO SUSTAIN RIVER ECOSYSTEMS. Ecological Applications, 16(4), 1311-1318. doi:10.1890/1051-0761(2006)016[1311:tcopef]2.0.co;2Austin, M. (2007). Species distribution models and ecological theory: A critical assessment and some possible new approaches. 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Two centuries of spatial and temporal dynamics of freshwater fish introductions

AimInvestigating major freshwater fish flows (translocations) between biogeographic regions and their temporal dynamics and also quantifying spatial patterns and temporal changes in the array of introduced species, and the emergence and distance between major donor and recipient regions.LocationGlobal.Time Period1800–2020.Major Taxa StudiedFreshwater fishes.MethodsWe analysed a global dataset on freshwater fish introductions (4241 events of 688 species). Freshwater fish flows were investigated with flow diagrams and χ2 tests, while PERMANOVA (permutational multivariate analysis of variance) was used to test the association between species and regions and temporal shifts. Cluster analysis revealed major recipient areas and composition of the introduced species. Finally, changes in distances between donor and recipient sites were tested with PERMANOVA.ResultsThe number of introductions between biogeographic regions mirrored the European and North American dominance before World War II (WWII) and the trends in recreational fishing, biocontrol programmes and food production, especially in the Sino-Oriental region, which has a long tradition of aquaculture and fishkeeping. Over the years, the origins and composition of introduced species changed uniquely in each biogeographic region, although the most introduced species are common to every region. Salmonids and other cold-water species were frequently introduced before the 1950s, whereas tropical ornamental and aquaculture species currently prevail. Distances between donor and recipient sites did not vary over the time. After WWII, the Sino-Oriental region consolidated its dominance and the Ethiopian and Neotropical regions emerged as new global donor and recipient regions.Main ConclusionsGlobal policy should focus on tropical ornamental and aquaculture species, which could benefit from global warming, especially in the Sino-Oriental region, because it currently dominates freshwater fish species flows, and the Ethiopian and Neotropical regions, because they recently emerged as important global donor and recipient regions of freshwater fish introductions