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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 60(2)

Temporal changes in fish abundance in response to hydrological variability in a dryland floodplain river

Stephen R. Balcombe A B and Angela H. Arthington A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Australian Rivers Institute and eWater Cooperative Research Centre, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland, 4111, Australia.

B Corresponding author. Email: s.balcombe@griffith.edu.au

Marine and Freshwater Research 60(2) 146-159 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF08118
Submitted: 10 April 2008  Accepted: 24 October 2008   Published: 20 February 2009

Abstract

Riverine fish living in unpredictable flow environments tend to be ecological generalists with traits that allow them to persist under highly variable and often harsh conditions associated with hydrological variation. Cooper Creek, an Australian dryland river, is characterised by extreme flow variability, especially in the magnitude, timing and duration of channel flows and floods, which, if they occur, do so mainly in summer. The present study examined the influence of hydrological variability on fish assemblages and abundance in four waterholes in the Windorah reach of Cooper Creek over eight occasions between 2001 and 2004. Antecedent flows had marked influences on fish species richness and assemblage structure. Following high summer flows, all waterholes supported a rich and abundant fish fauna, whereas fewer species and lower numbers were recorded following periods of zero channel flow. Recruitment of three of the four most common and abundant species was enhanced when intermittent flows inundated backwater and floodplain habitats that provide a food-rich environment. Opportunistic responses to rising channel flows and occasional large floods in Cooper Creek help to explain the prominent ‘boom’ patterns of fish production in this arid-zone river, whereas low-level recruitment during periods of low or no flow maintains populations of some species through the ‘bust’.

Additional keywords: fish assemblage structure, floodplains, floods, hydrology, recruitment, waterholes.


Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the various Dryland Refugia Project team members and volunteers who provided field support, and Sandy Kidd and David Smith for providing access to waterholes on their properties. Thanks also to Kim Markwell for summarising hydrology data provided by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines. We also appreciate the constructive comments provided by two anonymous reviewers. Our research was conducted under Queensland Fisheries Permit PRM00157K and Griffith University Animal Experimentation Ethics permit AES/03/02.


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