Temporal variability of larval drift of tropical amphidromous gobies along a watershed in Réunion Island

Freshwater gobies of tropical islands are amphidromous: adults reproduce in rivers and larvae passively drift down to the sea immediately after hatching. Describing the phenology of this larval drift is essential to understanding the population dynamics of amphidromous gobies and to developing ecolo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian journal of fisheries and aquatic sciences 2017-06, Vol.74 (6), p.948-957
Main Authors: Lagarde, Raphael, Teichert, Nils, Grondin, Henri, Magalon, Helene, Pirog, Agathe, Ponton, Dominique
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Analysis
Animal populations
Biodiversity and Ecology
Drift
Environmental Sciences
France
Genetics
Global Changes
Gobiidae
Hatching
Lagocephalus
Larvae
Mortality
Natural history
Nets
Phenology
Plankton
Plankton nets
River mouth
Rivers
Sampling methods
Sicyopterus lagocephalus
Summer
Sunset
Watershed management
Watersheds
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Summary:Freshwater gobies of tropical islands are amphidromous: adults reproduce in rivers and larvae passively drift down to the sea immediately after hatching. Describing the phenology of this larval drift is essential to understanding the population dynamics of amphidromous gobies and to developing ecologically based recommendations for managing the watersheds. The larval drift patterns of two amphidromous gobies of Reunion Island, Sicyopterus lagocephalus and Cotylopus acutipinnis, were studied on a monthly basis for 1 year using plankton nets at two sites on the Mat River, located 20 km and 7 km from the river mouth. Genetic analyses showed that larval assemblages were dominated at 90% by S. lagocephalus, although the proportion of C. acutipinnis increased during early summer. Our findings highlighted a marked larval drift peak in full austral summer. The diel larval drift dynamic was described using periodic linear models. A diel pattern was only observed downstream, peaking a few hours after sunset. Finally, this study presents a new approach that improves standard methods for sampling and analyzing larval drift of amphidromous species.
ISSN:0706-652X
1205-7533
DOI:10.1139/cjfas-2016-0101