Journal article

Publication year: 2010

Pages: 1131-1137

Journal: Ecological Modelling

Volume number: 221

Issue number: 8

ISSN: 0304-3800

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2009.12.021

Publisher: Elsevier

Abstract: 

Small fishes in seasonally flooded environments such as the Everglades
are capable of spreading into newly flooded areas and building up
substantial biomass. Passive drift cannot account for the rapidity of
observed population expansions. To test the ‘reaction–diffusion’
mechanism for spread of the fish, we estimated their diffusion
coefficient and applied a reaction–diffusion model. This mechanism was
also too weak to account for the spatial dynamics. Two other hypotheses
were tested through modeling. The first—the ‘refuge
mechanism’—hypothesizes that small remnant populations of small fishes
survive the dry season in small permanent bodies of water (refugia),
sites where the water level is otherwise below the surface. The second
mechanism, which we call the ‘dynamic ideal free distribution mechanism’
is that consumption by the fish creates a prey density gradient and
that fish taxis along this gradient can lead to rapid population
expansion in space. We examined the two alternatives and concluded that
although refugia may play an important role in recolonization by the
fish population during reflooding, only the second, taxis in the
direction of the flooding front, seems capable of matching empirical
observations. This study has important implications for management of
wetlands, as fish biomass is an essential support of higher trophic
levels.

Harvard Citation style: DeAngelis, D., Trexler, J., Cosner, C., Obaza, A. and Jopp, F. (2010) Fish population dynamics in a seasonally varying wetland, Ecological Modelling, 221(8), pp. 1131-1137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2009.12.021

APA Citation style: DeAngelis, D., Trexler, J., Cosner, C., Obaza, A., & Jopp, F. (2010). Fish population dynamics in a seasonally varying wetland. Ecological Modelling. 221(8), 1131-1137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2009.12.021