Patterns and drivers of native, non-native, and at-risk freshwater fish richness in Canada

Abstract

Understanding the relative roles of the historical, environmental, and anthropogenic processes underlying spatial biodiversity patterns is crucial to predict the impacts of global environmental changes. We quantified the relative roles of these factors in influencing species richness of total, native, non-native, and at-risk freshwater fishes in 985 tertiary watersheds across Canada while accounting for correlations among descriptors and spatial autocorrelation. Our findings indicate differences in factors influencing richness patterns among species categories. Environmental factors related to energy availability and historical factors related to post-glacial recolonization both played roles in shaping spatial variation in native species richness. In contrast, variation in non-native species richness was largely related to human activities increasing propagule pressure and habitat disturbance, which were greater for foreign species (i.e., not native to Canada) than for translocated native species. Anthropogenic processes and environmental conditions were both important determinants of at-risk species richness. Our study emphasizes the importance of an integrated approach that simultaneously considers natural and anthropogenic processes to better predict the fish biodiversity change at the landscape scale.