Decline in New Zealand’s freshwater fish fauna: effect of land use
Michael K. Joy A E , Kyleisha J. Foote B , Pierce McNie C and Marina Piria D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, Victoria University, Wellington, 6011, New Zealand.
B Institute for Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Private Bag 11-222, Palmerston North, 4442, New Zealand.
C Centre d’études de la forêt, Département des sciences biologiques, Université du Quebec á Montréal, Montreal, QC, H3C 3P8, Canada.
D University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Fisheries, Beekeeping, Game Management and Special Zoology, Svetošimunska 25, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
E Corresponding author. Email: mike.joy@vuw.ac.nz
Marine and Freshwater Research 70(1) 114-124 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF18028
Submitted: 23 January 2018 Accepted: 30 July 2018 Published: 10 September 2018
Abstract
The number of New Zealand’s freshwater fish listed as threatened has increased since 1992 when the first New Zealand threat classification system list was compiled. In this study, temporal and land cover-related trends were analysed for data on freshwater fish distribution, comprising more than 20 000 records for the 47 years from January 1970 to January 2017 from the New Zealand Freshwater Fish Database. The analysis included individual species abundance and distribution trends, as well as an index of fish community integrity, namely the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI). Of the 25 fish species that met the requirements for analysis to determine changes in the proportion of sites they occupied over time, 76% had negative trends (indicating declining occurrence). Of the 20 native species analysed for the proportion of sites occupied over time, 75% had negative trends; 65% of these were significant declines and more species were in decline at pasture sites than natural cover sites. The average IBI score also declined over the time period and, when analysed separately, the major land cover types revealed that the IBI declined at pasture catchment sites but not at sites with natural vegetation catchments.
Additional keywords: biodiversity, biomonitoring, catchment area, introduced species.
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