RT journal article
T1 Fish metacommunity structure in estuarine systems of the Honduran coast of the Mesoamerican barrier reef region
A1 Carrasco Navas-Parejo, Juan Carlos
A1 Papaspyrou, Sokratis
A1 Matamoros, WilfredoA.
A1 Caviedes Sánchez, Verónica
A1 Corzo Rodríguez, Alfonso
A2 Biología
K1 Permanently open estuaries
K1 Temporary open-closed estuaries
K1 Estuarine lagoons
K1 Coastal lagoons
K1 Fish categories and guilds
K1 Functional groups
K1 Fish communities
K1 Estuarine fish ecology
AB Estuarine systems are highly productive ecosystems with diverse fish communities that provide valuableecosystem services. The structure and ecology of fish communities in the estuarine systems of the MesoamericanBarrier Reef System region (MBRS) is largely unknown. Here, the fish communities and their relationship withenvironmental variables were investigated for the first time in sixteen estuarine systems along the Hondurancoast of the MBRS. The estuarine systems included estuarine lagoons and estuaries with different mouth dynamics, such as permanently open estuarine systems (POE) and temporary open-closed estuarine systems(TOCE). A total of 154 fish species were identified. Estuarine lagoons exhibited higher abundance and speciesrichness, with Karataska and Chachaguala having the highest species richness (~80 species). Overall, higherdiversity was observed in POE systems and during the open mouth phase, likely due to higher dispersion rates.Fish species were classified into different functional groups based on their utilization of estuarine environments.The most abundant category was marine fish (50.6 %), with marine stragglers and marine estuarine-opportunistsas the dominant guilds within this category. Freshwater, estuarine, and diadromous fish categories contributedless but similarly. Fish communities in estuarine lagoons and estuaries showed clear differences, although theyshared some common species. Estuarine lagoons communities were dominated by the marine category andmarine-estuarine-opportunists, while those of estuaries were characterized by the freshwater category andfreshwater-estuarine-opportunists. The occupancy varied greatly, with some species present in multiple estuarinesystems and others restricted to a single system. Species contribution to β-diversity (SCBD) revealed that speciespresent in a single system made the greatest contribution. Local contribution to total β-diversity (LCBD) rangedbetween 1.48 and 20.10 %, with the Chachaguala estuarine lagoon being the main contributor. In addition togeomorphological features and estuarine mouth state, distance-based multivariate linear model (DistLM) showedthat salinity, pH, bottom vegetation, and dissolved oxygen contributed significantly in explaining the fishmetacommunity variation. This study shows the importance of environmental filtering in shaping local fishcommunities in the MBRS estuarine systems. However, further research is needed to understand the role ofdispersion pathways and rates for the integral management of the estuarine fish metacommunity in the region.
SN 1470-160X
YR 2024
FD 2024-03-02
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/32846
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/32846
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 06-nov-2026