Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jul 14;14(14):1-25.
doi: 10.3390/w14142226.

Fish Species Composition, Distribution and Community Structure in Relation to Environmental Variation in a Semi-Arid Mountainous River Basin, Iran

Mojgan Zare-Shahraki  1 , Eisa Ebrahimi-Dorche  1 , Andreas Bruder  2 , Joseph Flotemersch  3 , Karen Blocksom  4 , Doru Bănăduc  5
Affiliations
Free PMC article

Fish Species Composition, Distribution and Community Structure in Relation to Environmental Variation in a Semi-Arid Mountainous River Basin, Iran

Mojgan Zare-Shahraki et al. Water (Basel). .
Free PMC article

Abstract

We analyzed spatial variation in fish species richness and community composition in the Karun River basin, Iran. Knowledge about fish diversity in the basin is incomplete and varies widely along spatial and temporal scales: The Karun is the longest river in Iran (950 km) with the largest drainage area (about 67,000 km2). Fish samples were collected from 54 sites from July through August 2019 using a backpack electro-fisher. Physico-chemical and habitat parameter data collected at each site included pH, conductivity (μS/cm), dissolved oxygen (mg/L), water temperature (°C), turbidity (NTU), stream width (m), stream depth (m), water velocity (m/s) and elevation (m). In total, 37 species were collected (5241 individuals weighing 110.67 kg). The species collected represented 12 families and 27 genera. A total of 13 endemic species (35.14%), 16 native species (43.24%), and eight non-native species (21.62%) were recorded. Diversity indices were calculated and used to measure the spatial variation in community composition. Relationships between native and endemic species assemblage structure and environmental descriptors were assessed using canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). The first two axes of the canonical correspondence analysis explained 62.57% of the variation in the data. Of the nine environmental descriptors analyzed, eight significantly affected species distribution; however, electrical conductivity and elevation were most influential. Our study provides up-to-date status information on the distribution of freshwater fishes in the Karun River basin. This information is essential for developing conservation and management strategies to support the long-term sustainability of fish populations in the Karun River basin.

Keywords: Karun basin; conservation; ecosystem management; fish; human impact; natural habitat variability.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Distribution of sampling sites (0–53) in the Karun River basin, Iran.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Grouping data matrix rows (sampling sites) using cluster analysis and silhouette width.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Grouping data matrix columns (fish species) using cluster analysis and silhouette width.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
CCA biplot for native and endemic fish species composition and environmental variables. (Abbreviation, EC: Electrical conductivity, T: Temperature, Do: Dissolved oxygen).
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Some examples of sampling sites in the Karun River basin; (a) site 0 (Dezdaran), (b) 15 (Cheshmeh Pireh ghar), (c) 29 (Ab sefid waterfall), (d) 22 (Tireh), (e) 20 (Chamchit 1).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Cianfaglione K Plant Landscape and Models of French Atlantic Estuarine Systems, Extended Summary of the Doctoral Thesis. Transylv. Rev. of Syst. and Ecol. Res 2021, 1, 15–36.
    1. Fang Y; Jawitz JW The Evolution of Human Population Distance to Water in the USA from 1790 to 2010. Nat. Commun 2019, 10, 430. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Marić S; Stanković D; Wazenbök J; Šanda R; Erös T; Takács A; Specziár A; Sekulić A Phylogeography and population genetics of the European mudminnow (Umbra krameri) with a time-calibrated phylogeny for the family Umbridae. Hidrobiologia 2017, 792, 151–168.
    1. Bănăduc D; Rey S; Trichkova T; Lenhardt M; Curtean-Bănăduc A The Lower Danube River–Danube Delta–North West Black Sea: A Pivotal Area of Major Interest for the Past, Present and Future of Its Fish Fauna—A Short Review. Sci. Total Environ 2016, 545–546, 137–151. - PubMed
    1. Bănăduc D; Joy M; Olosutean H; Afanasyev S; Curtean-Bănăduc A Natural and Anthropogenic Driving Forces as Key Elements in the Lower Danube Basin–South-Eastern Carpathians–North-Western Black Sea Coast Area Lakes: A Broken Stepping Stones for Fish in a Climatic Change Scenario? Environ. Sci. Eur 2020, 32, 73.

LinkOut - more resources