Effect of local and regional factors on the structure of the fish communities associated with aquatic macrophyte stands in oxbow lakes on the Amazon floodplain

• Published in: Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências Vol. 96; no. suppl 1; p. e20230496
• Main Authors: SILVA, RONALDO S. DA, ORTEGA, JEAN CARLO G., JACÓ, TIAGO RICARDO F., CABRAL, GUILHERME S., CORRÊA, FABIANO, VIRGILIO, LUCENA R., MONTAG, LUCIANO F.A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brazil Academia Brasileira de Ciências 01.01.2024
• Subjects: Acre; Animals; Biodiversity; Brazil; Ecosystem; environmental factors; Fishes - classification; Fishes - physiology; Floods; hydrological periods; Lakes; metacommunity; MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES; Môa River; Population Density; Rivers; Upper Juruá River; Brazil; Acre; Upper Juruá River; environmental factors; Môa River; metacommunity; hydrological periods
• ISSN: 0001-3765; 1678-2690; 1678-2690
• DOI: 10.1590/0001-3765202420230496

The Amazon floodplain is home to an extremely high diversity of fish, with lakes playing an important role in the establishment of this biological richness. These lacustrine environments are subject to constant fluctuations caused by the annual flood pulse, with local factors and other regional patterns also contributing to the variation in fish community structure. The present study verified how local (depth and transparency of the water, the size and species composition of the macrophyte stands) and regional factors (spatial distribution of the stands and the hydrological phase) influence the structure of the fish community of the floodplain lakes of the Môa River, in northern Brazil. Fish species richness was influenced by the depth of the water and the spatial distribution of the macrophyte stands. Fish species composition was influenced by local environmental variables, spatial structure, and the hydrological phase. However, variation partitioning indicated that only the hydrological phase explained the variation in fish composition. These findings indicate that the local environment, the spatial structure, and the hydrological phase drive changes in the structure of the fish communities associated with aquatic macrophytes in the floodplain lakes of the Amazon basin.