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Water
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Biology and Ecology of Threatened Freshwater Fish
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Biology and Ecology of Threatened Freshwater Fish

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Biodiversity and Functionality of Aquatic Ecosystems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 May 2022) | Viewed by 9352

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Fernando Cobo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Zoology, Genetics and Physical Anthropology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Campus Vida, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, Spain
Interests: water quality biomonitoring; biodiversity and conservation of macrobenthos; freshwater and diadromous fishes; biological invasions; toxicity and control of freshwater cyanobacteria; taxonomy and biology of aquatic insects
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The human-induced changes in freshwater fish habitats have resulted in a quarter of all freshwater fish species being threatened in some way and many inland fisheries being vulnerable to collapse.

Physiographic diversity and geographical isolation of freshwater habitats have generated high fish diversity, which is an important component of global biodiversity. "Freshwater fish" include all stenohaline freshwater fish and all euryhaline or amphihaline migratory freshwater fish. They exhibit a range of biotic responses that provide crucial information for the management and understanding of freshwater ecosystems, making them excellent indicators of ecological integrity and research models.

Knowledge of freshwater fish ecology, biology, and taxonomy is changing rapidly. Much work remains to be done, not only because of the need to advance scientific knowledge, but also to make scientific research useful for those responsible for conservation and management policies.

For these reasons, researchers working on threatened freshwater fish are invited to contribute to this Special Issue. We seek contributions that address advances in areas such as taxonomy, phylogenetics, biogeography, fisheries, biomonitoring, climatic change, and different aspects of their ecology and biology as changes in growth, distribution, and abundance, responses to water pollution, critical habitat degradation, eutrophication, chemical toxicity, thermal changes, food availability, etc.

Prof. Dr. Fernando Cobo
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Freshwater fish
  • biology
  • ecology
  • taxonomy
  • biogeography
  • fisheries
  • biomonitoring
  • climatic change

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 1446 KiB  
Article
Trophic Niche Overlap between Invasive and Indigenous Fish in a Northwest Reservoir of China
by Jie Wei, Zhulan Nie, Fenfen Ji, Longhui Qiu and Jianzhong Shen
Water 2021, 13(23), 3459; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13233459 - 06 Dec 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2016
Abstract
The Kizil reservoir in the Tarim River basin is an important habitat for the native Schizothoracinae fish (including Aspiorhynchus laticeps, Schizothorax biddulphi, Schizothorax eurystomus, Schizothorax intermedius and Schizothorax barbatus). Unfortunately, these species are threatened by many exotic fish, such [...] Read more.
The Kizil reservoir in the Tarim River basin is an important habitat for the native Schizothoracinae fish (including Aspiorhynchus laticeps, Schizothorax biddulphi, Schizothorax eurystomus, Schizothorax intermedius and Schizothorax barbatus). Unfortunately, these species are threatened by many exotic fish, such as Ctenopharyngodon idellus, Silurus asotus. As an isolated habitat, the Kizil reservoir is an ideal area for studying biological invasions. However, the impact of invasive species on indigenous species in this reservoir remains unknown. In this study, the niche width and niche overlap between invasive and indigenous species in Kizil reservoir were studied based on stable isotope analysis. The results showed that niche width of two invasive species, S. asotus and C. idellus, was larger than that of native fish species, which confirmed the hypotheses that successful invaders have larger niche width. The niche overlap analysis showed that the two invasive species had high niche overlap with native fish species, which meant that there might be intensive interspecific competitions between them. The invasion of non-native species could be the main reason for the decrease of native species in the Kizil reservoir. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biology and Ecology of Threatened Freshwater Fish)
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12 pages, 1409 KiB  
Article
Complexity of the Relationship between Environmental Factors, Interspecific Competition, and Intrinsic Traits of the Species in Explaining the Invasive Success of Gobio lozanoi Doadrio & Madeira, 2004
by Sandra Barca, Rufino Vieira-Lanero, David José Nachón, Javier Sánchez-Hernández, María del Carmen Cobo and Fernando Cobo
Water 2021, 13(21), 3043; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13213043 - 01 Nov 2021
Viewed by 1386
Abstract
The increase of non-native species in rivers is of great concern. To assess the potential impact of a species it is necessary to consider the ecological state of the receiving ecosystem and the biology of the potentially invasive species. In this work we [...] Read more.
The increase of non-native species in rivers is of great concern. To assess the potential impact of a species it is necessary to consider the ecological state of the receiving ecosystem and the biology of the potentially invasive species. In this work we characterize two populations of Gobio lozanoi Doadrio & Madeira, 2004 (bio-metric and demographic parameter) and the invasibility (as a function of habitat quality, competing species, food supply, etc.) of the two rivers that they inhabit. In addition, biomarkers of energy reserve level are analyzed to investigate their role in the invasiveness of the species. The results show differences in energy reserve levels and invasiveness between the two fish populations, and differences in the potential invasibility of the two tributaries. In the river with lower resistance to invasion, the G. lozanoi population is well-structured, and specimens have higher lipid values. On the contrary, in the river with better ecological status (and therefore greater resistance to invasion) we found lower lipid values, higher protein values and low juvenile survival rate. The lipid level is revealed as a good indicator of invasiveness in populations of alien species, under favorable conditions for invasion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biology and Ecology of Threatened Freshwater Fish)
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14 pages, 2972 KiB  
Article
Filtering Effect of Rhinogobio cylindricus Gut Microbiota Relieved Influence of the Three Gorges Dam on the Gut Microbiota Composition
by Xiaojuan Chen, Qiguang Zhu, Zhi Yang, Hang Sun, Na Zhao and Jiajia Ni
Water 2021, 13(19), 2697; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13192697 - 29 Sep 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1602
Abstract
Fish gut microbiota were potentially influenced by habitat changes. However, the fish gut has been shown to have a filtering effect on habitat microorganisms. Here, we hypothesized that the filtering of fish gut microbiota could counteract the effect of dam construction on the [...] Read more.
Fish gut microbiota were potentially influenced by habitat changes. However, the fish gut has been shown to have a filtering effect on habitat microorganisms. Here, we hypothesized that the filtering of fish gut microbiota could counteract the effect of dam construction on the gut microbiota composition. To test this hypothesis, we collected water and Rhinogobio cylindricus individuals from four sampling sites located upstream of the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) and analyzed the microbiota composition in the water samples (n = 48) and R. cylindricus gut samples (n = 89) by high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. A total of 6,772,720 (49,435.91 ± 3762.80) high-quality sequences were obtained from 137 samples. The microbiota in the water environment was significantly more diverse than that in the gut of R. cylindricus. The β-diversity of microbiota in the water was significantly lower than that in the gut of R. cylindricus. The water microbiota composition varied greatly according to the distribution of the sampling sites upstream of the TGD, but the gut microbiota of R. cylindricus did not show the same pattern. Rather, the gut microbiota of R. cylindricus were not significantly affected by the TGD. This consistency in the internal tract of R. cylindricus is presumedly a result of a filtering effect on the water microorganisms. Our study furthers our understanding of the stabilization mechanism of the gut microbiota composition of fish and the impact of dams on river ecosystems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biology and Ecology of Threatened Freshwater Fish)
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11 pages, 1015 KiB  
Article
Shift towards Opportunistic Life-History of Sleeper in Response to Multi-Decadal Overfishing
by Miao Xiang, Andrew L. Rypel, Fei Cheng, Jiao Qin, Lei Zhang, Yushun Chen and Songguang Xie
Water 2021, 13(18), 2582; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13182582 - 18 Sep 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3221
Abstract
Understanding long-term changes in life-history traits is central to assessing and managing freshwater fisheries. In this study, we explored how life-history traits have shifted in association with long-term change in population status for a native fish species (freshwater sleeper, Odontobutis sinensis, a [...] Read more.
Understanding long-term changes in life-history traits is central to assessing and managing freshwater fisheries. In this study, we explored how life-history traits have shifted in association with long-term change in population status for a native fish species (freshwater sleeper, Odontobutis sinensis, a by-catch species of shrimp traps) in the middle Yangtze lakes, China. We assessed the life-history traits of the species from Honghu Lake in 2016, where abundance had been dramatically lower following about 60 years of high fishing pressure, and made comparisons to similar data from Liangzi Lake (1957), when fishing intensity was low and abundance was high, and Bao’an Lake (1993–1994), when about 10 years of intense exploitation had occurred and abundance had greatly declined. Modern Honghu Lake sleeper exhibit life-history traits that are substantially more opportunistic compared to both of the historical populations. Modern fish were larger at age-1 and had significantly faster growth rates, a higher prevalence of sexually mature individuals and increased fecundities. Fish from the historical samples were larger and had higher age class diversity and delayed sexual maturation. Combined, the data suggest that faster growth towards early sexual maturation and reduced body sizes are associated with destabilized populations and ecosystems. Similar life-history patterns are common in other declined fish populations under exploitation. Recovering historic fish life-history dynamics requires conservation management policies aimed at reducing harvest and improving floodplain habitats. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biology and Ecology of Threatened Freshwater Fish)
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