Comparative ecology of freshwater fishes from central and eastern India

Mondal, Rubina (2021) Comparative ecology of freshwater fishes from central and eastern India. PhD thesis, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata.

Text (PhD thesis of Rubina Mondal (13RS003)) 13RS003.pdf - Submitted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (2MB)

Abstract

Studies on fish diversity patterns and their determining factors have been used to develop an understanding of aquatic freshwater ecosystems. Freshwater fishes are highly diverse group of vertebrates and often used as an indicator of healthy aquatic ecosystems. Patterns in stream fish communities occur at spatial and temporal scales, and different principles might apply at different scales for explaining these patterns. Studies from temperate areas of Europe and North America have received long standing attention, with relatively fewer works on tropical streams. Within Asia, stream systems from China have been studied the most compared to other countries. In India, most studies have been biased towards the biodiversity hotspots of Western Ghats and eastern Himalayas. There is a huge lacuna in the knowledge about the existing freshwater fish diversity and drivers from the rest of the country. There is scant literature on studies that investigate comparative ecology of different river basins which experience starkly different local microhabitat conditions but fall under the same spatial extent and regional climatic conditions of tropical realm. This thesis aims to document and understand the alpha diversity and the driving ecological factors, fundamental mechanisms driving beta diversity, effciency of predictive models and description of trophic structure in tropical stream fish communities. This thesis aims to add to the scientific literature by examining stream fish communities of Narmada basin located in central India and Teesta basin in eastern India. I aimed to understand the similarities and differences in community patterns of freshwater fishes and drivers in streams located in regions which are located 1600 kilometers from each other. This study helps to understand the comparative ecology of stream fish communities in tropical conditions for which literature is relatively rare. Further, these findings could be a useful tool for planning fish conservation and management strategies and their habitats in this region and in similar climatic conditions.

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