Is environmental legislation conserving tropical stream faunas? : A large-scale assessment of local, riparian and catchment-scale influences on Amazonian fish

Leal, Cecilia G. and Barlow, Jos and Gardner, Toby A. and Hughes, Robert M. and Leitao, Rafael P. and Mac Nally, Ralph and Kaufmann, Philip R. and Ferraz, Silvio F. B. and Zuanon, Jansen and de Paula, Felipe R. and Ferreira, Joice and Thomson, James R. and Lennox, Gareth D. and Dary, Eurizangela P. and Ropke, Cristhiana P. and Pompeu, Paulo S. (2018) Is environmental legislation conserving tropical stream faunas? : A large-scale assessment of local, riparian and catchment-scale influences on Amazonian fish. Journal of Applied Ecology, 55 (3). pp. 1312-1326. ISSN 0021-8901

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Abstract

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 R-2 values mostly 5. Policy implications. Current rates of agricultural intensification and mechanization 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.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Journal of Applied Ecology
Additional Information:
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Leal CG, Barlow J, Gardner T, et al. Is environmental legislation conserving tropical stream faunas? A large‐scale assessment of local, riparian and catchment‐scale influences on Amazonian fish. J Appl Ecol. 2018;55:1312–1326. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13028 which has been published in final form at https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.13028 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2303
Subjects:
?? amazonbrazilian forest codefunctional guildshuman-modified landscapesmultiplicative diversity partitioningphysical habitatspecies turnovertropical landscapeswatershed managementfresh-water biodiversitymultiple spatial scalesland-useecological variationrel ??
ID Code:
126976
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
23 Nov 2018 09:18
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
14 Dec 2023 13:50