Ichthyofaunal diversity with relation to environmental variables in the snow-fed Tamor River of eastern Nepal

Main Article Content

Jawan Tumbahangfe
Jash Hang Limbu
Archana Prasad
Bharat Raj Subba
Dil Kumar Limbu

Abstract

Tamor River in eastern Nepal supports diverse hill stream fishes. From winter, spring, summer, and autumn of 2020, we investigated the ichthyofaunal diversity with environmental variables in the snow-fed Tamor River covering four seasons (winter, spring, summer, and autumn) and field surveys were carried out in January, April, July, and October 2020. We used two cast nets of different sizes, one with a mesh size of 2 cm, 6 m diameter and 6 kg weight and another having 0.5 cm, 3 m diameter and 2 kg weight. In addition, monofilament gill nets with mesh sizes of 6, 8, and 10 were used for fish sampling. A total of 6,373 fish individuals representing 28 species belonging to three orders, seven families, and 16 genera were recorded. One-way permutational multivariate analysis of variance (perMANOVA) on the Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) showed no significant (P >0.05) difference between winter, spring, and autumn season but summer season showed significant (P <0.05) difference from winter, spring, and autumn seasons. Furthermore, one-way analysis of variance on redundancy analysis (RDA) vindicated that among the selected parameters, pH, air temperature and total hardness were the influencing factors (P <0.05) to determine the fish community structure in Tamor River.

Article Details

Section
Communications

References

Ahikari, A., J.H. Limbu & S. Pathak (2021). Fish Diversity and Water Quality Parameters of Mechi River, Jhapa, Province No. 1, Nepal. Borneo Journal of Resources Science and Technology 10(2): 24–34. https://doi.org/10.33736/bjrst.2954.2021

APHA (2012). Standard Methods for Examination of Water and Waste water. 22nd Edn. American Public Health Association, Washington DC, USA, 1220

Bhatt, J.P. & M.K. Pandit (2016). Endangered Golden mahseer Tor putitora Hamilton: a review of natural history. Review in Fish Biology and Fisheries 26: 25–38. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-015-9409-7

Biston, M.A. & A.C. Hued (2002). Patterns of species richness in rivers of the central region of Argentina. Brazilian Journal of Biology 62: 753–764. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1519-69842002000500004

Clarke, K.R. (1993). Non-parametric multivariate analyses of changes in community structure. Australian Journal of Ecology 18: 117–143. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1993.tb00438.x

Conversi, A., V. Dakos, A. Gårdmark, S. Ling, C. Folke, J.P. Mumby, C. Greene, M. Edwards, T. Blenckner, M. Casini, A. Pershing, & C. Möllmann (2015). A holistic view of marine regime shifts. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences 370: 1471–2970. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0279

Dudgeon, D, A. H. Arthington, M.O. Gessner, Z.I. Kawabata, D.J. Knowler et al. (2006). Freshwater biodiversity: Importance, threats, status and conservation challenges. Biological Reviews 81: 163–182. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1464793105006950

Edds, D.R. (1993). Fish assemblage structure and environmental correlates in Nepal’s Gandaki River. Copeia 1993 (1): 48–60. https://doi.org/10.2307/1446294

Gerhard, P, R. Maraes & S. Molander (2004). Stream fish communities and their associations to habitat variables in a rain forest reserve in southeastern Brazil. Environmental Biology of Fishes 71: 321–330. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-004-1260-y

Gorman, O.T. (1988). The dynamics of habitat use in a guild of Ozark minnows. Ecological Monograph 58(1): 1–18. https://doi.org/10.2307/1942631

Grossmann, G.D, R.E. Ratajczak, J.M. Crawford & M.C. Freemann (1998). Assemblages organization in stream fishes: effect of environmental variation and interspecific interactions Ecological Monograph 68: 395–420. https://doi.org/10.2307/2657245

Harvey, B.C, & A.J. Stewart (1991). Fish size and habitat depth relationship in headwater streams. Oecologia 87: 336–342. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00634588

Hill, M.O. & H.G. Gauch (1980). Detrended correspondence analysis: an improved ordination technique. Vegetatio 42: 47–58. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00048870

Horwitz, R. (1978). Temporal Variability Patterns and the Distributional Patterns of Stream Fishes. Ecological Monographs 48(3): 307–321. https://doi.org/10.2307/2937233

Hossain, M.S., N.G. Das, S. Sarker, & M.Z. Rahaman (2012). Fish diversity and habitat relationship with Environmental vriables at Meghna river estuary, Bangladesh. Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Research 38: 213–226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejar.2012.12.006

Jayaram, K.C. (2010). The freshwater fishes of Indian region. Narendra Publishing House, Delhi, India, 614 pp.

Kadye, W.T., C.H.D. Magadza, N.A.G. Moyo & S. Kativu (2008). Stream fish assemblages in relation to environmental factors on a montane plateau. Environmental Biology of Fishes 83: 417–428. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-008-9364-4

Legendre, P. & L. Legendre (1998). Numerical Ecology. Second Edition. Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 853 pp.

Leveque, C. (1997). Biodiversity dynamics and conservation: the freshwater fishes of tropical Africa. Cambridge University Press, UK.

Limbu, J.H. & A. Prasad (2020). Environmental variables and fisheries diversity of the Nuwa River, Panchthar, Nepal. Scientific World 13: 69–74. https://doi.org/10.3126/sw.v13i13.30542

Limbu, J.H., B. Bhurtel, A. Adhikari, G.C. Punam, M. Maharjan & S. Sunuwar (2020). Fish community structure and environmental correlates in Nepal’s Andhi Khola. Borneo Journal of Resources Science and Technology 10(2): 85–92. https://doi.org/10.33736/bjrst.2510.2020

Limbu, J.H., G.S. Acharya & O.H. Shrestha (2018). A brief report on ichthyofaunal diversity of Dewmai Khola of Ilam district, Nepal. Journal of Natural History Museum 30: 312–317. https://doi.org/10.3126/jnhm.v30i0.27607

Limbu, J.H., J.K. Gurung, S. Subba, N. Khadka, A. Adhikari & C.B. Baniya (2021b). An Impact Assessment of Betani Irrigation Dam on Fish Diversity of Damak Municipality, Jhapa, Nepal. Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries 25(2): 163–175. https://doi.org/10.21608/ejabf.2021.161363

Limbu, J.H., S, Subba, J.K. Gurung, J. Tumbahangfe & B.R. Subba (2021a). Correlation of fish assemblages with habitat and environmental variables in the Phewa Khola Stream of Mangsebung Rural Municipality, Ilam, Nepal. Journal of Animal Diversity 3(1): 27–36. http://doi.org/10.52547/JAD.2021.3.1.5

Magalhaes, M.F., D.C. Batalha & M.J. CollaresPereora (2002). Gradients in stream fish assemblages across a Mediterranean landscape: contributions of environmental factors and spatial structure. Freshwater Biology 47: 1015–1031. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2427.2002.00830.x

Magurran, A.E. (1988). Ecological Diversity and its Measurement. Princeton University Press, Princeton.

McGill, B.J., B.J. Enquist, E. Weiher & M. Westoby (2006). Rebuilding community ecology from functional traits. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 21: 178–185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2006.02.002

Mishra, A.R. & C.B. Baniya (2017). Ichthyofaunal diversity and physico-chemical factors of Melamchi River, Sind-upalchok, Nepal. Journal of Institute of Science and Technology 21(1): 10–18. https://doi.org/10.3126/jist.v21i1.16031

Moyle, P.B. & B. Vondracek (1985). Persistence and structure of the fish assemblage in a small California stream. Ecology 66: 1–13. https://doi.org/10.2307/1941301

Ngor, P.B., P. Legendre, T. Oberdorff & S. Lek (2018). Flow alterations by dams shaped fish assemblage dynamics in the complex Mekong-3S river system. Ecological Indicators 88: 103–114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.01.023

Payne, A.I. (1986). The ecology of tropical lakes and rivers. John Wiley & Sons, Britain.

Perry, L.A., P.J. Low, J.R. Ellis & J.D. Reynolds (2005). Climate change and distribution shifts in marine fishes. Science 308(5730): 1912–1915. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1111322

Pielou, E.C. (1966). The measurement of diversity in different types of biological collections. Journal of Theoretical Biology 13: 131-144. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-5193(66)90013-0

Pokharel, K.K., B.B. Khadga, C.M. Trilok & C.B. Chitra (2018). Correlations between fish assemblage structure and environmental variables of the Seti Gandaki River Basin, Nepal. Journal of Freshwater Ecology 33(1): 31–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/02705060.2017.1399170

Pinder, A.C., J.R. Britton, A.J. Harrison, P. Nautiyal, S.D. Bower, S.J. Cooke, S.L.M. Everard, UK.K. Ranjeet, S.W. Andy, N.D. Dahanukar & R. Raghavan (2019). Mahseer (Tor spp.) fishes of the world: status, challenges and opportunities for conservation. Review of Fish Biology and Fisheries 29: 417–452. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-019-09566-y(0123456789

Prasad, A., A. Shrestha, J.H. Limbu & D. Swar (2020). Spatial and temporal variation of fish assemblage structure in Seti Gandaki River, Tanahu, Nepal. Borneo Journal of Resources Science and Technolog 10(2): 93–104. https://doi.org/10.33736/bjrst.2048.2020

Punam, G.C. & J.H. Limbu (2019). Spatio-temporal variation of fish assemblages in Babai River of Danag district, Province No. 5, Nepal. Our Nature 17(1): 14–25. https://doi.org/10.3126/on.v17i1.33988

Rouyer, T., J.M. Fromentin, F. Me´nard, B. Cazelles, K. Briand, R. Pianet, B. Planque & N.C. Stenseth (2008). Complex interplays among population dynamics, environmental forcing, and exploitation in fisheries. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105: 5420–5425.

Shah, R.B. (2016). Study of the freshwater fish diversity of Koshi River of Nepal. International Journals of Fauna and Biological Studies, 3(4): 78–81.

Shannon, C.E. & W. Weave (1963). The Mathematical Theory of Communication. Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press, 117 pp.

Shrestha, J., D.M. Singh & T.B. Saund (2009). Fish diversity of Tamor River and its major tributaries of eastern Himalayan region of Nepal. Nepal Journal of Science and Technology 10: 219–223. https://doi.org/10.3126/njst.v10i0.2964

Shrestha, J.N. (2016). Fish diversity of Triyuga River, Udayapur District. Our Nature 14(1): 124–134. https://doi.org/10.3126/on.v14i1.16452

Shrestha, T.K. (2019). Ichthyology of Nepal, a study of fishes of the Himalayan waters. Prism Color Scanning and Press Supportive Pvt. Ltd, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Spjøtvoll, E. & M.R. Stoline (1973). An extension of the T-Method of multiple comparison to include the cases with unequal sample sizes. Journal of the American Statistical Association 68(344): 975–978. https://doi.org/10.1080/01621459.1973.10481458

Subba, B.R., N. Pokharel & M.R. Pandey (2017). Ichthyofaunal diversity of Morang district, Nepal. Our Nature 15(12): 55–67. https://doi.org/10.3126/on.v15i1-2.18794

Swar, D.B. & J. Shrestha (1998). Fishery baseline and impact assessment of Dudhkoshi-I hydropower project area. Mediun hydropower study project, NEA.

Swar, D.B. & K.K. Upadhaya (1998). Fisheries baseline and impact assessment of Kabeli “A” hydropower project area. A report submitted to NEA

Talwar, P.K. & A.G. Jhingram (1991). Inland Fisheries of India and Adjacent Countries. Volume I and II. Oxford and IBH Publishing Co. India, 1158 pp.

Wu, J., J. Wang, Y. He & W. Cao (2011). Fish assemblage structure in the Chisui River, a protected tributary of the Yangtze River. Knowledge and Management of Aquatic Ecosystem 400(11): 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1051/kmae/2011023

Yan, Y., H.E. Shan, C.H.U. Ling, X. Xiuying, J.I.A. Yanju, T.A.O. Juan & C. Yifeng (2010). Spatial and temporal variation of fish assemblages in a subtropical small stream of the Huangshan Mountain. Current Zoology 56(6): 670–677. https://doi.org/10.1093/czoolo/56.6.670

Yu, S.L. & T.W. Lee (2002). Habitat preference of the stream fish, Sinogastromyzon puliensis. Zoological Studies 41: 183–187.

Most read articles by the same author(s)