New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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Patterns of distribution and association of freshwater fish in New Zealand

CHARLES K. MINNS

Fisheries Research Centre Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries P. O. Box 8324, Riccarton Christchurch, New Zealand
Present address: Great Lakes Laboratory for Fisheries and Aquatic Science, Bayfield Institute, 867 Lakeshore Road, P. O. Box 5050, Burlington, Ontario L7R 4A6, Canada

Abstract Presence-absence data for New Zealand's freshwater fish fauna were analysed for evidence of species interactions and of links with land-use and geological patterns. Co-occurrence patterns differed between site and regional levels. Native and exotic species had overlapping geographical distributions but tended to be segregated at the site level. Species-area curves were developed for lotic and lentic sites which explained a small portion of the variation. Regressions involving land-use and geological variables accounted for more variation. New Zealand catchments appeared to be under-saturated with species compared to northern temperate catchments. Analysis of co-occurrence patterns, where distributions overlapped, indicated relatively more negative associations between native and exotic species than among either group of species. The presence-absence patterns of several native species were related to land use and geological factors. The conclusion from these analyses was that both land-use changes and introductions of exotic species.particularly salmonids, have caused changes in the distribution of native fish species.

Keywords presence-absence; species-area; associations; distribution; habitat; fish; freshwater M89032 Received 1 June 1989; accepted 29 August 1989

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1990, Vol. 24: 31-44 Crown copyright 1990
Received 1 June 1989; accepted 29 August 1989

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1083K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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