TY - JOUR
T1 - Fish assemblages across the marine to low salinity transition zone of a temperate estuary
AU - Martino, Edward J.
AU - Able, Kenneth W.
N1 - Funding Information: Many individuals assisted with the study. Eric Duval, Bertrand Lemasson, Tara Farley, Jolene Navatta, Robert Rinaldi, as well as other technicians at the Rutgers University Marine Field Station, helped with the fieldwork. Judith McLellan, David Nemerson, and Thomas Grothues provided assistance with the data analysis. Bobbie Zlotnik provided editorial support. Earlier drafts benefited from comments by Judith P. Grassle and Michael P. Weinstein. This research was supported by a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) Graduate Research Fellowship, the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences (IMCS) and the Rutgers University Marine Field Station. This is IMCS Contribution Number 2003-06.
PY - 2003/4/1
Y1 - 2003/4/1
N2 - This 3-year study provides a large-scale perspective of fish assemblage structure across an ocean-estuarine ecotone, given range of salinity encountered (0.1-32) based on sampling at 12 stations along 40 km from the Mullica River (river), Great Bay (bay), and the adjacent inner continental shelf (ocean) in southern New Jersey. Otter trawl (4.9 m, 6 mm mesh) collections were dominated by young-of-the-year of most of the 49 species encountered. Species richness and abundance appeared greatest in the ocean, decreased (with an increase in inter-station variability) in the bay, and appeared to increase again towards the uppermost river stations. The same areas contained three non-discrete, but identifiable, fish assemblages based on Detrended Correspondence Analysis. Members of the Triglidae and Stromateidae characterized the ocean and bay, whereas representatives of the Percichthyidae and Ictaluridae characterized the river. Several species, including Anchoa mitchilli and Cynoscion regalis, exhibited a ubiquitous distribution across the sampling area. Further analyses with Canonical Correspondence Analysis identified salinity and geographic distance, among the variables examined, as the most important determinants in shaping the assemblages. Other contributors included habitat heterogeneity and water depth. In summary, these observations indicate that large-scale patterns in the structure of this estuarine fish assemblage are primarily a result of individual species' responses to dominate environmental gradients, as well as ontogenetic migrations, whereas smaller-scale patterns appear to be the result of habitat associations that are most likely driven by foraging, competition, and/or predator avoidance.
AB - This 3-year study provides a large-scale perspective of fish assemblage structure across an ocean-estuarine ecotone, given range of salinity encountered (0.1-32) based on sampling at 12 stations along 40 km from the Mullica River (river), Great Bay (bay), and the adjacent inner continental shelf (ocean) in southern New Jersey. Otter trawl (4.9 m, 6 mm mesh) collections were dominated by young-of-the-year of most of the 49 species encountered. Species richness and abundance appeared greatest in the ocean, decreased (with an increase in inter-station variability) in the bay, and appeared to increase again towards the uppermost river stations. The same areas contained three non-discrete, but identifiable, fish assemblages based on Detrended Correspondence Analysis. Members of the Triglidae and Stromateidae characterized the ocean and bay, whereas representatives of the Percichthyidae and Ictaluridae characterized the river. Several species, including Anchoa mitchilli and Cynoscion regalis, exhibited a ubiquitous distribution across the sampling area. Further analyses with Canonical Correspondence Analysis identified salinity and geographic distance, among the variables examined, as the most important determinants in shaping the assemblages. Other contributors included habitat heterogeneity and water depth. In summary, these observations indicate that large-scale patterns in the structure of this estuarine fish assemblage are primarily a result of individual species' responses to dominate environmental gradients, as well as ontogenetic migrations, whereas smaller-scale patterns appear to be the result of habitat associations that are most likely driven by foraging, competition, and/or predator avoidance.
KW - Estuarine
KW - Fish assemblage structure
KW - Inner continental shelf
KW - Low-salinity
KW - Species minimum
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/0042627826
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/0042627826#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1016/S0272-7714(02)00305-0
DO - 10.1016/S0272-7714(02)00305-0
M3 - Article
SN - 0272-7714
VL - 56
SP - 969
EP - 987
JO - Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science
JF - Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science
IS - 5-6
ER -