We assessed the utility of simple metapopulation models in an analysis of a decade (1976–86) of stream-fish censuses at 10 sites on the Cimarron River, Oklahoma. This assemblage is a good candidate for metapopulation analysis because there was substantial annual turnover of population, with frequent local extinctions and recolonizations. However, annual probabilities of colonization and extinct...

Fish assemblages associated with 14 marine caves and adjacent external rocky reefs were investigated at four Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) along the coasts of Italy. Within the caves sampling was carried out in different sub-habitats: walls, ceilings, bottoms and ends of caves. On the whole, 38 species were recorded inside the 14 caves investigated. Eighteen species were exclusively found insid...

We measured species-level probabilities of colonization and extinction from a decade (1976–86) of stream-fish censuses at 10 sites on the Cimarron River, Oklahoma. In a macroecological analysis that controlled for phylogenetic relationships among the 41 species, we used body size, average population size, area of geographic range and distance to the centre of the geographic range as correlates ...

To evaluate the effects of macrophytes presence in the structure of littoral fish assemblages in the littoral zone, monthly samples were collected from September, 2006 to August, 2007 in an impounded tributary of the Itá Reservoir, the Fragosos River, located in the Upper Uruguay River Basin. Fish were collected using a beach seine and sampling was conducted in the littoral zone inside a macrop...

In the past decade, significant efforts have been made to describe fish-habitat associations. However, most studies have oversimplified actual connections between fish assemblages and their habitats by using univariate correlations. The purpose of this study was to identify the features of habitat forming corals that facilitate and influences assemblages of associated species such as fishes. Fo...

Differences in the acoustic characteristics of forage fish species in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea were examined using Kirchhoff ray-mode (KRM) backscatter models. Our goal was to identify species-specific characteristics and metrics that facilitate the discrimination of species using acoustic techniques. Five fish species were analyzed: capelin (Mallotus villosus), Pacific herring (Cl...

Ecosystem indicators were investigated through the study of the trophic structure of reef fish assemblages, in separate coral reef ecosystems of the south-west lagoon of New Caledonia. In a first step, a fractional trophic level was assigned for each fish species. Abundances profiles along trophic levels were subsequently plotted in order to search for trophic changes under various level of fis...

Abstract Decades of research have revealed relationships between the abundance coral reef taxa and local conditions, especially at small scales. However, a rigorous test covariation requires robust dataset collected across wide environmental or experimental gradients. Here, we surveyed spatial variability in densities major functional groups 122 sites along 70 km expanse leeward, forereef habit...

The hypothesis of convergence takes the deterministic view that community (or assemblage) structure can be predicted from the environment, and that the environment is expected to drive evolution in a predictable direction. Here we present results of a comparative study of freshwater fish assemblages from headwater streams in four continents (Europe, North America, Africa and South America), wit...

Identifying the environmental gradients that control the functional structure of biological assemblages in reference conditions is fundamental to help river management and predict the consequences of anthropogenic stressors. Fish metrics (density of ecological guilds, and species richness) from 117 least disturbed stream reaches in several western Iberia river basins were modelled with generali...