Fish movement and habitat use depends on water body size and shape
Ecology of Freshwater Fish
By: D.A. Woolnough, J. A. Downing, and T.J. Newton
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Abstract
Home ranges are central to understanding habitat diversity, effects of fragmentation and conservation. The distance that an organism moves yields information on life history, genetics and interactions with other organisms. Present theory suggests that home range is set by body size of individuals. Here, we analyse estimates of home ranges in lakes and rivers to show that body size of fish and water body size and shape influence home range size. Using 71 studies including 66 fish species on five continents, we show that home range estimates increased with increasing water body size across water body shapes. This contrasts with past studies concluding that body size sets home range. We show that water body size was a consistently significant predictor of home range. In conjunction, body size and water body size can provide improved estimates of home range than just body size alone. As habitat patches are decreasing in size worldwide, our findings have implications for ecology, conservation and genetics of populations in fragmented ecosystems. ?? 2008 Blackwell Munksgaard.
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Fish movement and habitat use depends on water body size and shape |
| Series title | Ecology of Freshwater Fish |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1600-0633.2008.00326.x |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Year Published | 2009 |
| Language | English |
| Larger Work Type | Article |
| Larger Work Subtype | Journal Article |
| Larger Work Title | Ecology of Freshwater Fish |
| First page | 83 |
| Last page | 91 |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |