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Habitat preferences of Ukrainian brook lamprey Eudontomyzon mariae ammocoetes in the lowland rivers of Central Europe
Author(s) -
Jażdżewski M.,
Marszał L.,
Przybylski M.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of fish biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1095-8649
pISSN - 0022-1112
DOI - 10.1111/jfb.12806
Subject(s) - silt , biology , abiotic component , habitat , ecology , abundance (ecology) , hydrology (agriculture) , drainage basin , lamprey , transect , larva , environmental science , fishery , geology , geography , paleontology , geotechnical engineering , cartography
The pattern of microhabitat preferences of Ukrainian brook lamprey Eudontomyzon mariae ammocoetes was examined in two rivers of central Poland: the Pilica River (the Vistula River basin) and the Grabia River (the Odra River basin). A comparison of abiotic factors of the rivers revealed differences in water speed and principal components: PC 1 (determining gradient from decreasing medium sand to the increasing share of three fractions of gravel), PC 2 (a gradient from the declining share of very coarse and coarse sand fractions to the growing content of fine sand) and PC 3 (correlated with an increasing proportion of silt). The sites did not differ significantly in terms of water depth. Relative abundance and frequency of ammocoete occurrence in the Grabia River were higher than in the Pilica River. Only speed, PC 1 and PC 2 made a significant contribution to the prediction of larval occurrence. Eudontomyzon mariae larvae preferred substrata with a reduced amount of medium sand and increased content of gravel ( PC 1) as well as with a lower content of coarse sand and higher proportion of fine‐grained sand ( PC 2). The ammocoetes also preferred areas with a water speed of 0·2 m s −1 but avoided speeds ≥0·6 m s −1 . The abundance of E. mariae was affected by water speed, as well as by all PCs . The mean ± s.e. optimal current speed was 0·265 ± 0·007 m s −1 , while abundance decreased with increasing amounts of gravel ( PC 1) and increased with increasing amounts of fine sand and silt in the bottom substratum ( PC 2 and PC 3). Comparison of ammocoete microhabitat use in the Pilica and Grabia Rivers showed the lack of differences in distribution in the preferred values of current speed, PC 1 and PC 2.