You are currently viewing a new version of our website. To view the old version click .
Biology and Life Sciences Forum
  • Abstract
  • Open Access

15 June 2022

Meso- and Micro-Habitat Preferences of European River and Brook Lamprey in a Mediterranean River Basin †

,
,
,
and
1
ARNET—Aquatic Research Network, MARE—Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, University of Évora, 7004-516 Évora, Portugal
2
MARE—Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, 1749-016 Lisbon, Portugal
3
Department of Biology, School of Science and Technology, College Luis António Verney, University of Évora, 7000-671 Évora, Portugal
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
This article belongs to the Proceedings The IX Iberian Congress of Ichthyology

Abstract

The European river (Lampetra fluviatilis Linnaeus, 1758) and brook (Lampetra planeri Bloch, 1784) lampreys are considered ‘paired species’, i.e., they are closely related and morphologically very similar but have distinct modes of adult life (anadromous vs. resident). In the Iberian Peninsula, the southern limit of both species’ distribution, they face different pressures (e.g., barriers, pollution, hydrological stress) that reduce the available habitat, which is exacerbated by the actual climate change context. The main objective of the present study was to evaluate meso- and microhabitat preferences of Lampetra sp. On the mesohabitat scale, the environmental variables that influence these species’ distributions on the watershed scale were identified. On the microhabitat level, besides identifying the fine-scale variables that influence the presence and abundance of Lampetra sp., possible changes in habitat preferences throughout the larval stage (i.e., distinct size/age classes) were also assessed. Mesohabitat results suggest that the relative abundance of Lampetra sp. is related to variables such as pH and riparian vegetation. Regarding the microhabitat, the relative abundance of the size classes’ distribution seems to be associated with variables such as substrate granulometry. The results in terms of habitat preferences on a Mediterranean basin are discussed in the context of a climate change scenario (e.g., decrease in habitat quality and availability) and management and conservation perspective.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, B.R.Q., C.S.M., C.M.A. and P.R.A.; software, formal analysis, visualization, I.C.O.; data curation, writing—original draft preparation, I.C.O. and B.R.Q.; methodology, investigation, resources, writing—review and editing, I.C.O., B.R.Q., C.S.M., C.M.A. and P.R.A.; supervision and project administration, P.R.A.; funding acquisition, P.R.A., B.R.Q., C.S.M. and C.M.A. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by EDP—Energias de Portugal, S.A. with the award Fundo EDP para a Biodiversidade 2008. Support was also provided by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) 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 contract attributed to Carlos M. Alexandre within the project CEECIND/02265/2018 and individual contract attributed to Bernardo Quintella 2020.02413.CEECIND.

Institutional Review Board Statement

The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the ICNF - Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas.

Data Availability Statement

Not applicable.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Article Metrics

Citations

Article Access Statistics

Multiple requests from the same IP address are counted as one view.