Menor Campillo, Arturo

Prenda Marín, José

Álvarez Robles, José Antonio

Departamento de Biología Ambiental y Salud PúblicaCIECEMCIECE

Arias Montano: Institutional Repository of the University of Huelva

Analysis of past distribution patterns of inland water fish in southern SpainMenor A, Álvarez-Robles JA y Prenda J.Biología de las Aguas Epicontinentales, Dpto. Biología Ambiental y S.P., Universidad de Huelva, EspañaE-MAIL: jprenda@uhu.esPatterns of abundance and distribution of the Iberian fishes have suffered important changes in the last years. These changes may be a consequence of the dramatic transformation of streams and rivers.In this work, we reconstructed the distribution of the native fish species in a pristine context in order to quantify the magnitude of the contemporary changes in their distribution range. For this purpose we compiled data about the distribution of fishes from historical records and compared them with current distributions. Here we present examples from eel (Anguilla anguilla), barbel (Barbus sclateri, B. microcephalus and B. comiza) and trout (Salmo trutta).INTRODUCTIONWe compiled the historical records from the “Diccionario Geográfico-Estadístico-Histórico de España” by Pascual Madoz (1845-1850) belonging to Castilla-La Mancha and Andalucia regions (South of Spain). We created a data base assigning each fish record to the current municipalities. This information was mapped in 10x10 UTM squares using ArcView program. Then, we compared these results with the current distribution reported by Atlas y Libro Rojo de los Peces Continentales de España(Doadrio, 2001), to asses changes in the distribution of the target species.METHODOLOGYThe most important changes in the distribution range affect to migratory species, as can be observed in the case of eel. On the other hand, sedentary species (trout and barbel) maintain, practically, the same distribution as in the XIX century. However, this is an artifact in the case of trout, because a large proportion of the sites inhabited nowdays by this species is made of by restockings of different strains from northern Europe and authoctonous populations have gone definitevely extinct.These results show different patterns of distribution range evolution, from migratory species almost extint (due to impoundment of rivers), to non-comercial cyprinids or trout, whose range remains almost the same (only apparently for salmonids).RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONFig. 1. Distribution of Anguilla anguilla (as an example of migratory species) in 1850 (left) and current distribution (right)EelFig. 3. Distribution of Salmo trutta (as an example of salmonid species) in 1850 (left) and current distribution (right). The places where trout has been restocked appear in green. TroutFig. 2. Distribution of Barbus sp. (as an example of cyprinid species) in 1850 (left) and current distribution (right)Barbel

Analysis of past distribution patterns of inland water fish in southern Spain

http://rabida.uhu.es/dspace/bitstream/handle/10272/2860/Analysis_past_distribution.pdf?sequence=1

Analysis of past distribution patterns of inland water fish in southern Spain

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Arias Montano: Institutional Repository of the University of Huelva