10.5061/DRYAD.D5K7P
Leal, Cecília G.
Federal University of Lavras
Lancaster University
Barlow, Jos
Lancaster University
Gardner, Toby
Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi
Hughes, Robert M.
Oregon State University
Leitão, Rafael P.
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
Mac Nally, Ralph
University of Canberra
La Trobe University
Kaufmann, Philip R.
Environmental Protection Agency
Ferraz, Silvio F. B.
University of Sao Paulo
Zuanon, Jansen
National Institute of Amazonian Research
de Paula, Felipe R.
Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso
Ferreira, Joice
Federal University of Amazonas
Thomson, James R.
Federal University of Lavras
Lennox, Gareth D.
Lancaster University
Dary, Eurizângela P.
Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso
Röpke, Cristhiana P.
Federal University of Amazonas
Pompeu, Paulo S.
Federal University of Lavras
Gardner, Toby A.
Stockholm Environment Institute
Data from: Is environmental legislation conserving tropical stream faunas?
a large-scale assessment of local, riparian and catchment-scale influences
on Amazonian stream fish
Dryad
dataset
2018
small streams
multiplicative diversity partitioning
functional guilds
physical habitat
watershed management
Pisces
tropical landscapes
human modified tropical landscapes
land use change
Brazilian Forest Code
2018-09-27T00:00:00Z
2018-09-27T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13028
519742 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
1.Agricultural expansion and intensification are major threats to tropical
biodiversity. In addition to the direct removal of native vegetation,
agricultural expansion often elicits other human-induced disturbances,
many of which are poorly addressed by existing environmental legislation
and conservation programmes. This is particularly true for tropical
freshwater systems, where there is considerable uncertainty about whether
a legislative focus on protecting riparian vegetation is sufficient to
conserve stream fauna. 2.To assess the extent to which stream fish are
being effectively conserved in agricultural landscapes, we examined the
spatial distribution of assemblages in river basins to identify the
relative importance of human impacts at instream, riparian, and catchment
scales, in shaping observed patterns. We used an extensive dataset on the
ecological condition of 83 low-order streams distributed in three river
basins in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. 3.We collected and identified
24,420 individual fish from 134 species. Multiplicative diversity
partitioning revealed high levels of compositional dissimilarity (DS)
among stream sites (DS = 0.74 to 0.83) and river basins (DS = 0.82), due
mainly to turnover (77.8 to 81.8%) rather than nestedness. The highly
heterogeneous fish faunas in small Amazonian streams underscore the vital
importance of enacting measures to protect forests on private lands
outside of public protected areas. 4.Instream habitat features explained
more variability in fish assemblages (15-19%) than riparian (2-12%),
catchment (4-13%) or natural covariates (4-11%). Although grouping species
into functional guilds allowed us to explain up to 31% of their abundance
(i.e. for nektonic herbivores), individual riparian- and catchment-scale
predictor variables that are commonly a focus of environmental legislation
explained very little of the observed variation (partial R2 values mostly
< 5%). 5.Policy implications. Current rates of agricultural
intensification and mechanisation in tropical landscapes are
unprecedented, yet the existing legislative frameworks focusing on
protecting riparian vegetation seem insufficient to conserve stream
environments and their fish assemblages. To safeguard the species-rich
freshwater biota of small Amazonian streams, conservation actions must
shift towards managing whole basins and drainage networks, as well as
agricultural practices in already-cleared land.
Fish species and functional guild composition, and environmental predictor
variables from Amazonian streamsThis is the complete dataset used in the
manuscript. It includes fish species composition per stream site,
functional guild composition per stream site and environmental predictor
variables per stream site. For dataset descriptions see the file
'README.docx'.Leal_et_al_Conservation_Amazon_streamFish.xlsx
Pará
Paragominas
Brazil
Capim River Basin
Santarém
Amazon River Basin
Curuá-Una River Basin
Gurupi River Basin