Fishes from the Colombian Amazonia region: species composition from the river systems within the rainforest biome

Abstract

Abstract The Colombian Amazon region is part of the Neotropical rainforest (humid forest biome) covering an area of 483,163 km2 and includes tributaries of both the Amazon and Orinoco River basins. The aquatic ecosystems found there include: rivers and alluvial plains originating in Andean headwaters, on eroded soils of tropical forests in the lowlands, and Guiana Shield formations, comprising a dense fluvial drainage network in the lowlands, with Paleogene/Neogene geological formations (terra firme streams in higher places that don’t usually flood) and Paleozoic (shield streams); and Andean and Guiana Shield streams above 200–250 m a.s.l. We present here an exhaustive compilation of published information, supported by fish collections, consisting of a list of 1104 species distributed in 375 genera, 53 families, and 16 orders. We include occurrence data of these species in each sub-basin. The presence/absence species matrix was analyzed using a dendrogram and non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis to identify patterns of similarity between basins and sub-basins. We evaluated species composition between basins and among the different geological origins using PERMANOVA. The dendrogram shows co-occurrences of 404 species in the two basins. It also shows two clear groupings of the sub-basins of the Amazon (except Guainía-Negro drainages) and those of the Orinoco. Within the Amazon Basin, there are two nodes according to the geological origin: systems of Andean origin and those of the lowlands. The dendrogram results are consistent with the NMDS analysis, which shows a clear grouping according to the connectivity of the basins; the Guainía-Negro is included in the Amazon basin. Species distribution patterns were supported by the PERMANOVA, and differed significantly between basins (F = 4.3, R = 0.26, P = 0.003) and geological origin (F = 3.6, R = 0.23, P = 0.003). The number of species in this study represents almost a fifth of the ichthyofauna of the Neotropics and about a third of that of the Amazon River basin; clearly supporting Colombia’s status among the countries with the greatest diversity of freshwater fish species of the planet. We include here a significant number of new records (75 spp), provide a first approximation of the distribution patterns, and a framework for future biogeographical studies.