Defining depth requirements to conserve fish assemblages from water take in an intermittent river.

ABSTRACT: River systems once safeguarded from water development are being developed. This includes intermittent rivers that annually dry to a series of pools. Describing fish species relationships between abundance and pool depth can help managers set water-take rules that protect fish in dry-season pools. We sampled fish in main-channel and floodplain pools that spanned a gradient of depths and overcame sampling challenges by accounting for interacting effects of species mean length, environmental attributes, and sampling attributes on fish capture probabilities. Fish abundance-depth relationships varied systematically with species mean length, mesohabitat type (main channel, floodplain), water turbidity, and structural complexity, highlighting system complexity and the potential generality of abun

SUBMITTER: Gwinn DC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11612426 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature