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© 2020. This work is licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Aphanius iberus is an endemic cyprinodontoid fish species of Mediterranean ponds in danger of extinction. In this study, we studied some abiotic and biotic factors that can influence A. iberus’s size structure and density in Mediterranean brackish ponds. We sampled fish using fyke nets in 10 ponds of Empordà (Spain) during the spring season. Our results showed that a better ecological status (according to the Water Quality of Lentic and Shallow Ecosystems (QAELS) index), pond’s depth and pond’s isolation (reflected by an increase in total nitrogen) were related to larger individual sizes and more size-diverse populations. Increasing the salinity is known to help the euryhaline A. iberus acting as a refuge from competitors. Nevertheless, our results showed that higher conductivities had a negative effect on A. iberus’s size structure, leading to a decrease in the mean and maximum size of the fish. Fish abundance (expressed as captures per unit of effort (CPUE)) seemed to increase with increasing the pond’s depth and total nitrogen (the latter reflecting pond isolation). In conclusion, our results suggest that achieving a better pond ecological status may be important for the conservation of endangered A. iberus, because better size-structured populations (i.e., larger mean and average lengths) were found at higher water quality conditions.

Details

Title
Factors Influencing Abundances and Population Size Structure of the Threatened and Endemic Cyprinodont Aphanius iberus in Mediterranean Brackish Ponds
First page
3264
Publication year
2020
Publication date
2020
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20734441
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2464317057
Copyright
© 2020. This work is licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.