Effects of area and available energy on fish assemblages of tropical streams

Abstract

A central issue in fish community ecology is to understand how the size of the drainage area and the available energy influence fish species diversity and their spatial distribution. In the present study, we tested whether the species–area relationship (represented by drainage area) and species–energy association (represented by algal biomass and organic matter) drive taxonomic and functional richness in a regional scale. The results indicated that fish assemblages of the two tropical neighbouring basins sampled responded differently to the size of drainage area. Whereas taxonomic richness was influenced by the size of the drainage area in Tocantins River basin streams, it was not affected in Araguaia River basin streams. Both taxonomic richness and functional richness of the fish assemblages were affected by available energy in the system. A possible explanation for these different responses is related to local conditions, such as the percentage of natural vegetation cover encountered in each basin.