A survey of freshwater fishes and their macroparasites in the ... - NINA

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NINA Report 635 Foreword This survey of freshwater fishes and their parasites in Guanacaste Conservation Area (Area Conservacion de Guanacaste, ACG) was initiated as part of a larger survey of vertebrate parasites in this area (see http://www.parasitesrus.com/content/?ps=1). ACG was intended as the geographic site for the planned All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) (Janzen & Hallwachs 1994). When this mega biodiversity exercise had to be abandoned in its full scale format, some groups of scientists involved in the planning of the ATBI decided to continue the effort to inventory ”their” respective taxonomic groups in ACG to the extent that funding could be obtained. The parasites of vertebrates were one of the groups where work on an inventory was initiated, coordinated by professor Dan Brooks. The NINA staff joined the field work and analysis of results. With funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), we were able to collect freshwater fish and analyse their parasite fauna during three field periods, in June 1998 (at the beginning of the rainy season), and February 1999 and March 2001 (during the dry season). This somewhat delayed report describes the results of the surveys of 1998, 1999 and 2001, in order to provide an overview of the collected biodiversity data, as a possible baseline for future aquatic research activities in the ACG. Thanks are due to Personnel of the Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, in particular Elda Araya, Roger Blanco, Carolina Cano, Maria Marta Chavarría, Felipe Chavarría, Roberto Espinoza, Dunia Garcia, Guillermo Jimenez, Elba Lopez, Sigifredo Marin, Alejandro Masis, Calixto Moraga, Fredy Quesada and Petrona Rios. Knut Kringstad and Kari Sivertsen at NINA’s graphics department have assisted with figures. Graciela Rusch has translated the abstract into Spanish. All photos are by O.T. Sandlund, unless otherwise stated. Trondheim, November 2010 Odd Terje Sandlund 6
1 Introduction 7 NINA Report 635 The aim of the survey was to start mapping the occurrence and distribution of freshwater fish species and their macroparasites in the rivers of ACG. This report describes the results of field surveys performed during the rainy season of 1998 and the dry seasons of 1999 and 2001. The species composition and distribution of the fresh water fish fauna in Costa Rica is fairly well known in general terms, in particular through the work of Professor W.A. Bussing, University of Costa Rica (Bussing 1985, 1987, 1998). The ACG is situated in a part of the country where the freshwater fish fauna has received little attention. One reason may be that the fauna is expected to contain relatively few species, due to the biogeography and immigration history of this fauna element in this particular area (Bussing et al. 1996, Smith & Bermingham 2005). Important factors expected to influence the occurrence of fish species in this area are e.g. the position of rivers in relation to the major Pacific-Atlantic watershed divide (Smith & Bermingham 2005), altitude, and dry season water volume of the rivers. A survey aiming to establish the role of these biogeographical and physical factors on the observed distribution of fish will need to include collection on many sites (Bell 2003). Over three field periods, during the rainy season in 1998, and the dry season in 1999 and 2001, a total of 27 localities were sampled. The fish material has been deposited at the Museum of Zoology, University of Costa Rica, San José, and at the Tropical Dry Forest Research Station, Santa Rosa, ACG. In contrast to the fish fauna, the parasites of fishes in the fresh waters of Central America remain poorly known (Watson 1976; Choudhury et al. 2002; Rodríguez-Ortíz et al. 2004a, b; Choudhury et al. 2006; Scholz et al. 2004; Salgado-Maldonado 2008). This study is the first comprehensive and concerted study on the parasites of a diverse assemblage of fishes from a variety of drainages of differing hydrological and geographical characteristics in a particular region of Central America. The parasite material is currently in the possession of one of us (AC) and will be deposited at the U.S. National Parasite Collection and the National Parasite Collection in Costa Rica as and when the taxonomic work is complete. Specimens of two described species, Wallinia chavarriae and Paracreptotrema blancoi have already been deposited at the U.S. National Parasite Collection. Quebrada Aserradero (locality 4; 155 m a.s.l.).
Page 1 and 2: 635 A survey of freshwater fishes a
Page 3 and 4: Norwegian Institute for Nature Rese
Page 5 and 6: Abstract 3 NINA Report 635 Sandlund
Page 7: Contents 5 NINA Report 635 Abstract
Page 11 and 12: 9 NINA Report 635 Table 1 Localitie
Page 13 and 14: 3.3 Parasite methods 11 NINA Report
Page 15 and 16: 13 NINA Report 635 We have also use
Page 17 and 18: 4.2 Fish communities 15 NINA Report
Page 19 and 20: 17 NINA Report 635 Table 3 General
Page 21 and 22: 19 NINA Report 635 4.3.2 Effects of
Page 23 and 24: 21 NINA Report 635 observed differe
Page 25 and 26: 23 NINA Report 635 The indication t
Page 27 and 28: 25 NINA Report 635 Even in our quit
Page 29 and 30: 7 References 27 NINA Report 635 App
Page 31 and 32: 29 NINA Report 635 List of Annexes
Page 33 and 34: Annex 1, continued Pacific drainage
Page 35 and 36: Annex 3 Fish catches in ACG rivers
Page 37 and 38: Annex 5 Host-Parasite List - Guanac
Page 39 and 40: Annex 6 Parasites and fish hosts re
Page 41 and 42: Annex 6 continued 2 3 4 8 13 14 17
Page 43 and 44: Annex 7 continued 2 4 6 7 8 9 10 11
Page 45 and 46: Annex 8 continued 1 2 5 6 7 8 11 12
Page 47: Annex 8 continued 1 2 5 6 7 8 11 12

A survey of freshwater fishes and their macroparasites in the ... - NINA

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