Background: Ethnoichthyology studies the knowledge of human communities about the uses, perception, and behavioral characteristics of fish, based on their cosmology, cosmogony, and culture. This study focused on the Cubeo (Pâmiwâ) ethnic group that inhabits the Cuduyarí River (Vaupés, Colombia) provides information on fishing activities, use of fishes, its ecological distributions (occurrence in rivers, pools, and/or streams) and seasonality (occurrence in low and/or high waters). Additionally, names in the Central Tukano language (Cubeo) are provided.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReference conditions are difficult to find in the Anthropocene but essential for effective biodiversity conservation. Aquatic ecosystems in the Andes-Amazon transition zone of Colombia are now at high risk due to expanded human activities after peace agreements in 2016 ended armed conflict because lands formerly controlled by FARC and other armed groups are now prone to agricultural and urban expansion. Particularly, expanding human land use may reduce fish diversity across the altitudinal gradient, especially in the premontane streams (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRiverine floodplains are biologically diverse and productive ecosystems. Although tropical floodplains remain relatively conserved and ecologically functional compared to those at higher latitudes, they face accelerated hydropower development, climate change, and deforestation. Alterations to the flood pulse could act synergistically with other drivers of change to promote profound ecological state change at a large spatial scale.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAmazonian waters are classified into three biogeochemical categories by dissolved nutrient content, sediment type, transparency, and acidity-all important predictors of autochthonous and allochthonous primary production (PP): (1) nutrient-poor, low-sediment, high-transparency, humic-stained, acidic blackwaters; (2) nutrient-poor, low-sediment, high-transparency, neutral clearwaters; (3) nutrient-rich, low-transparency, alluvial sediment-laden, neutral whitewaters. The classification, first proposed by Alfred Russel Wallace in 1853, is well supported but its effects on fish are poorly understood. To investigate how Amazonian fish community composition and species richness are influenced by water type, we conducted quantitative year-round sampling of floodplain lake and river-margin habitats at a locality where all three water types co-occur.
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