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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 57(6)

Estimating local stream fish assemblage attributes: sampling effort and efficiency at two spatial scales

Mark J. Kennard A C , Bradley J. Pusey A , Bronwyn D. Harch B , Elli Dore A and Angela H. Arthington A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Cooperative Research Centres for Freshwater Ecology and Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management, Centre for Riverine Landscapes, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, Qld 4111, Australia.

B Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Mathematical & Information Sciences, Queensland Bioscience Precinct, 306 Carmody Road, St Lucia, Qld 4067, Australia.

C Corresponding author. Email: m.kennard@griffith.edu.au

Marine and Freshwater Research 57(6) 635-653 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF06062
Submitted: 18 April 2006  Accepted: 17 July 2006   Published: 31 August 2006

Abstract

As part of a wider study to develop an ecosystem-health monitoring program for wadeable streams of south-eastern Queensland, Australia, comparisons were made regarding the accuracy, precision and relative efficiency of single-pass backpack electrofishing and multiple-pass electrofishing plus supplementary seine netting to quantify fish assemblage attributes at two spatial scales (within discrete mesohabitat units and within stream reaches consisting of multiple mesohabitat units). The results demonstrate that multiple-pass electrofishing plus seine netting provide more accurate and precise estimates of fish species richness, assemblage composition and species relative abundances in comparison to single-pass electrofishing alone, and that intensive sampling of three mesohabitat units (equivalent to a riffle–run–pool sequence) is a more efficient sampling strategy to estimate reach-scale assemblage attributes than less intensive sampling over larger spatial scales. This intensive sampling protocol was sufficiently sensitive that relatively small differences in assemblage attributes (<20%) could be detected with a high statistical power (1-β > 0.95) and that relatively few stream reaches (<4) need be sampled to accurately estimate assemblage attributes close to the true population means. The merits and potential drawbacks of the intensive sampling strategy are discussed, and it is deemed to be suitable for a range of monitoring and bioassessment objectives.

Extra keywords: biodiversity, bootstrapping, fish behaviour, habitat use, physico-chemical conditions, power analysis, sample size.


Acknowledgments

This project was funded by the Cooperative Research Centres for Freshwater Ecology and Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management and Land and Water Australia (formerly Land and Water Research and Development Corporation). In-kind contributions were also provided by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines, and the Department of Primary Industries (Fisheries). We thank Rick Cunjak, Kurt Fausch and Tarmo Raadik for their insights on the theory and practice of electrofishing and survey design. We thank Steve Mackay, Darren Renouf, Nick Marsh, Wendy Neilan, Peter Benson and Michelle Wood for assistance with field sampling. We appreciate the detailed comments by several anonymous reviewers, which substantially improved the present paper. This research project was approved by the Griffith University Ethics Committee for Experimentation on Animals and the applied research protocols used were conducted in accordance with the requirements of this Committee.


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