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Habitat Suitability of Threespine Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) in the Southern Limit of Its Global Distribution: Implications for Species Management and Conservation †
The conservation of fish biodiversity requires reliable information on their distribution and habitat use, especially of endemic species that generally occur in restricted geographic areas and specific habitats. This is the case of threespine stickleback (G. aculeatus L.), that is a small freshwater fish listed as Endangered (EN) in Portugal, which represents the southern limit of the species global distribution. The monitoring and conservation of populations placed near to the species distribution limits is very important because in these places, small environmental changes can lead to the significant decline of local populations. However, due to the lack of knowledge about its regional distribution, ecology, and macrohabitat preferences, few measures have been proposed aiming the conservation of this species. This project aimed to identify which macro-scale environmental factors determine regional distribution of G. aculeatus, to predict their potential distribution and, therefore, define the most important areas for their protection and conservation. The occurrence data, from existing databases and specific sampling campaigns, together with 15 environmental macrohabitat predictors, were used to model the potential distribution of sticklebacks in Portugal, through an ensemble of species distributions models (SDM). Through the results of our ensemble model, we found that threespine stickleback may occur predominantly at lower stretches of river systems, where sandy substrate is dominant, and flow is higher. Sticklebacks are also more likely to occur in sites with high levels of rainfall in the driest month, thus avoiding locations with high potential for drying during summer, which tend to be common in the Iberian Peninsula. The species also tends to avoid steep slope areas, with high levels of annual precipitation. Based on our results, a probability map of occurrence was generated; from this, some river stretches were categorized into levels according to their importance for the conservation of the species. With the results obtained, it was also possible to identify some atypical populations, occurring in areas with low or null habitat suitability, which need to be further studied, because they must have developed physiological characteristics that allow them to subsist in places that are not conducive to their survival.
Conceptulization, A.M., C.M.A., P.R.A.; methodology, A.M., C.M.A., J.B.-P.; software, A.M., J.B.-P.; formal analysis, A.M., C.M.A., J.B.-P.; investigation, A.M., C.M.A., J.B.-P., P.R.A., S.S.; data curation, A.M., C.M.A., J.B.-P., S.S.; writing—original draft preparation, A.M.; writing—review and editing, A.M., C.M.A., J.B.-P., P.R.A., S.S.; supervision, C.M.A., P.R.A.; project administration, C.M.A., P.R.A.; funding acquisition, C.M.A., P.R.A.; All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
The present study was supported by the project “Colmatação de lacunas de informação sobre a distribuição e abundância de peixes dulciaquícolas e migradores (diádromos) em Portugal Continental no âmbito da elaboração do Livro Vermelho”, developed by the University of Évora, in partnership with UTAD-University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro and the IPB-Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, and funded by FCiências.ID. Funding was also provided by the Portuguese Science Foundation through the strategy plan for MARE (Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre), via project UIDB/04292/2020, and under the project LA/P/0069/2020 granted to the Associate Laboratory ARNET. FCT also supported this study through the individual contracts attributed to Carlos M. Alexandre (CEECIND/02265/2018) and the PhD scholarship attributed to Sara Silva (2021.05558.BD).
Institutional Review Board Statement
Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement
Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement
Data is available from correspondence author, upon reasonable request.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Moreira, A.; Boavida-Portugal, J.; Almeida, P.R.; Silva, S.; Alexandre, C.M.
Habitat Suitability of Threespine Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) in the Southern Limit of Its Global Distribution: Implications for Species Management and Conservation. Biol. Life Sci. Forum2022, 13, 129.
https://doi.org/10.3390/blsf2022013129
AMA Style
Moreira A, Boavida-Portugal J, Almeida PR, Silva S, Alexandre CM.
Habitat Suitability of Threespine Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) in the Southern Limit of Its Global Distribution: Implications for Species Management and Conservation. Biology and Life Sciences Forum. 2022; 13(1):129.
https://doi.org/10.3390/blsf2022013129
Chicago/Turabian Style
Moreira, Andre, Joana Boavida-Portugal, Pedro R. Almeida, Sara Silva, and Carlos M. Alexandre.
2022. "Habitat Suitability of Threespine Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) in the Southern Limit of Its Global Distribution: Implications for Species Management and Conservation" Biology and Life Sciences Forum 13, no. 1: 129.
https://doi.org/10.3390/blsf2022013129
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Moreira, A.; Boavida-Portugal, J.; Almeida, P.R.; Silva, S.; Alexandre, C.M.
Habitat Suitability of Threespine Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) in the Southern Limit of Its Global Distribution: Implications for Species Management and Conservation. Biol. Life Sci. Forum2022, 13, 129.
https://doi.org/10.3390/blsf2022013129
AMA Style
Moreira A, Boavida-Portugal J, Almeida PR, Silva S, Alexandre CM.
Habitat Suitability of Threespine Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) in the Southern Limit of Its Global Distribution: Implications for Species Management and Conservation. Biology and Life Sciences Forum. 2022; 13(1):129.
https://doi.org/10.3390/blsf2022013129
Chicago/Turabian Style
Moreira, Andre, Joana Boavida-Portugal, Pedro R. Almeida, Sara Silva, and Carlos M. Alexandre.
2022. "Habitat Suitability of Threespine Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) in the Southern Limit of Its Global Distribution: Implications for Species Management and Conservation" Biology and Life Sciences Forum 13, no. 1: 129.
https://doi.org/10.3390/blsf2022013129