Linking ecological characteristics with fish diversity, assemblage patterns and feeding guilds, and GIS applications along the temporal and spatial gradients in a large subtropical reservoir, India, for sustainable management

• Published in: Journal of water and climate change 2024-02, Vol.15 (2), p.607-627
• Main Authors: Alam, Absar, Kumar, Jeetendra, Sarkar, Uttam Kumar, Jha, Dharm Nath, Sahu, Sanjeev Kumar, Sukla Das, Shyamal Chandra, Srivastava, Saket Kumar, Kumar, Vijay, Das, Basanta Kumar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: conservation; dam; environmental parameters; habitat–fish association; rihand reservoir; trophic guilds
• ISSN: 2040-2244; 2408-9354
• DOI: 10.2166/wcc.2023.513

The objective of the investigation was to explore the abundance, composition, and diversity patterns of the fish fauna along the temporal and spatial scale and study the influence of environmental parameters on the fish assemblage in the Rihand reservoir, a large sub-tropical Indian reservoir in India. On the temporal scale, the highest abundance was recorded in the summer season and the lowest in the monsoon season, while on the spatial scale, the highest abundance was recorded from the riverine and the minimum from the lacustrine zone. The highest species richness and diversity were recorded from the riverine zone followed by the transitional and lacustrine zones, respectively. The analysis of the variance of fish abundance revealed insignificant differences between the riverine and the transitional zones. The trophic guild analysis indicated the dominance of carnivores. The output of canonical correspondence analysis depicted the significant influence of the physico-chemical traits on the abundance of fish species. The transparency and specific conductivity were found to be the most critical factors affecting fish assemblages in the Rihand reservoir. This study generated important baseline ecological information that would be useful for the monitoring, conservation, and management of the reservoir ecosystem.