Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Changes in the taxonomic diversity of the reef fish community of San José Island, Gulf of California, Mexico

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biodiversity and Conservation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Although San José Island is considered one of the most important islands in the lower Gulf of California due to its commercial fishing activities, few studies have evaluated their fish taxonomic diversity. The aim of this study was to determine the variation in the taxonomic diversity of the conspicuous fish community in eight locations around San José Island from March 2001 to February 2002. We assessed the changes in the diversity of rocky reef fish based on the taxonomic distances between species, using Fisher’s alpha diversity index, average taxonomic distinctiveness (AvTD Δ+), and taxonomic distinctiveness (Δ*). Visual censuses were conducted in 48 transects consisting of 100 × 5 m quadrants (500 m2 sampling area) at an average depth of 5 m, from 09:00 to 16:00. A total of 26,608 fishes belonging to 112 species and 76 genera were found. The index of relative abundance was used to determine the most important species, which were in order of abundance: Abudefduf troschelii, Thalassoma lucasanum, Stegastes rectifraenum, Mulloidichthys dentatus, Chromis atrilobata, Lutjanus argentiventris, and Scarus ghobban. According to Fisher’s alpha diversity index, the highest diversity of species was found in July and the lowest in February. The indices of Δ+ and Δ* indicated significant temporal and spatial differences.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aburto-Oropeza O, Balart EF (2001) Community structure of reef fish in several habitats of a rocky reef in the Gulf of California. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 22:283–305

    Google Scholar 

  • Alvarez-Filip L (2004) Influencia del hábitat sobre la asociación de peces en el arrecife coralino de Cabo Pulmo, B.C.S., México. Disertación, Centro de Investigación Científica y Educación Superior de Ensenada

  • Alvarez-Filip L, Reyes-Bonilla H (2006) Comparison of community structure and functional diversity of fishes at Cabo Pulmo coral reef, western Mexico between 1987 and 2003. In: Proceedings of the 10th international coral reef symposium, pp 216–225

  • Alvarez-Filip L, Reyes-Bonilla H, Calderon-Aguilera LE (2006) Community structure of fishes in Cabo Pulmo Reef, Gulf of California. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 27:253–262

    Google Scholar 

  • Amador-Buenrostro A, Trasviña-Castro A, Muhlia-Melo A, Argote-Espinoza ML (2003) Influence of EBES seamount and Farallon basin on coastal circulation in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Geofis Int 42:407–408

    Google Scholar 

  • Arreola-Robles JL, Elorduy-Garay JF (2002) Reef fish diversity in the region of La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Bull Mar Sci 71:1–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourillón-Moreno L, Díaz-Barriga AC, Ecardi-Ambrosi F, Lira-Fernández E, Ramírez-Ruíz J, Velarde-González E, Zavala-González A (1988) Islas del Golfo de California. Secretaría de Gobernación y Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México

    Google Scholar 

  • Campos-Dávila L, Cruz-Escalona VH, Galván-Magaña F, Abítia-Cárdenas A, Gutiérrez-Sánchez FJ, Balart EF (2005) Fish assemblages in a Gulf of California marine reserve. Bull Mar Sci 77:347–362

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke KR, Warwick RM (1998) A taxonomic distinctness index and its statistical properties. J Appl Ecol 35:523–531

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke KR, Warwick RM (1999) The taxonomic distinctness measure of biodiversity: weighting of step lengths between hierarchical levels. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 184:21–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke KR, Warwick RM (2001) A further biodiversity index applicable to species lists: variation in taxonomic distinctness. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 216:265–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coleman N, Gason ASH, Poore GCB (1997) High species richness in the shallow marine waters of south-east Australia. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 154:17–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dominici-Arosamena A, Wolff M (2006) Reef fish community structure in the Tropical Eastern Pacific (Panamá): living on a relatively stable rocky reef environment. Helgol Mar Res 60:287–305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drobner U, Bibby J, Smith B, Wilson JB (1998) The relation between community biomass and evenness, what does community theory predict and can these predictions be tested? Oikos 82:295–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Enríquez-Andrade R, Anaya-Reyna G, Barrera-Guevara JC, Carvajal-Moreno MA, Martínez-Delgado ME, Vaca-Rodríguez J, Valdés-Casillas C (2005) An analysis of critical areas for biodiversity conservation in the Gulf of California region. Ocean Coast Manag 48:31–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher R, Corbet S, Williams C (1943) The relation between the number of species and the number of individual in a random sample of an animal population. J Anim Ecol 12:42–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galván-Magaña F, Gutiérrez-Sánchez F, Abítia-Cárdenas LA, Rodríguez-Romero J (2000) The distribution and affinities of the shore fishes of Baja California lagoons. In: Munawar M, Lawrence SG, Munawar IF, Malley DF (eds) Aquatic ecosystem of Mexico. Ecovision World Monograph Series. Backhuys, Leiden, pp 338–398

    Google Scholar 

  • Galván-Piña H, Galván-Magaña F, Abítia-Cárdenas LA, Gutiérrez-Sánchez FJ, Rodríguez-Romero J (2003) Seasonal structure of fish assemblages in rocky and sand habitats in Bahía de La Paz, México. Bull Mar Sci 72:19–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaston KJ (1996) What is biodiversity? In: Gaston KJ (ed) Biodiversity: a biology of numbers and difference. Blackwell Science Ltd, Oxford, pp 1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Grace J (1999) The factors controlling species density in herbaceous plant communities, an assessment. Perspectives in plant ecology, evolution and systematics 2:1–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gray J (2000) The measurement of marine species diversity, which an application to the benthic fauna of the Norwegian shelf. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 250:23–49

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Griffths D (1997) Local and regional species richness in North American lacustrine fish. J Anim Ecol 66:49–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helfman SG, Collette BB, Facey DE (2005) The diversity of fishes. Blackwell, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Jiménez-Gutiérrez SV (1999) Abundancia y estructura comunitaria de peces de arrecifes rocosos en la zona de Isla Cerralvo, B.C.S., México. Disertación, Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional

  • Lara-Lara JR, Arena-Fuentes V, Bazán-Guzmán C, Díaz-Castañeda V, Escobar-Briones E, García-Abad MC, Gaxiola-Castro G, Robles-Jarero G, Sosa-Avalos R, Soto-González LA, Tapia-García M, Valdez-Holguín E (2008) Los ecosistemas marinos. I conocimiento actual de la biodiversidad. Capital Natural de México, Mexico, pp 135–159

    Google Scholar 

  • Letourneau Y (1996) Dynamic of fish communities on reunion fringing reef, Indian Ocean. I Patterns of spatial fluctuation. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 195:1–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lluch-Belda D, Elourduy-Garay J, Lluch-Cota SE, Ponce-Díaz G (2000) BAC: Centros de actividad biológica del Pacífico Mexicano. Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste, Mexico

    Google Scholar 

  • Lydy MJ, Crawford CG, Frey JW (2000) A comparison of selected diversity, similarity, and biotic indices for detecting changes in benthic-invertebrate community structure and stream quality. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 39:469–479

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mackey RL, Currie DJ (2001) The diversity-disturbance relationship, Is it generally strong and peaked? Ecology 82:3479–3492

    Google Scholar 

  • Magurran AE (1988) Ecological diversity and its measurement. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Magurran AE (2004) Measuring biological diversity. Blackwell Publishing Oxford, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Mittelbach GG, Steiner CF, Scheiner SM, Gross KL, Reynolds HL, Waide RB, Willig M, Dodson SI, Gough L (2001) What is the observed relationship between species richness and productivity? Ecology 82:2381–2396

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mora C, Robertson DR (2005) Causes of latitudinal gradients in species richness: a test with the endemic shorefishes of the Tropical Eastern Pacific. Ecology 86:1771–1782

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moreno-Sánchez XG (2009) Estructura y organización trófica de la ictiofauna del arrecife de Los Frailes, B.C.S. México. Disertación, Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional

  • Muhlia-Melo A, Klimley P, González-Armas R, Jorgensen S, Trasviña-Castro A, Rodríguez-Romero J, Amador-Buenrostro A (2003) Pelagic fish assemblages at the Espíritu Santo seamount in the Gulf of California during El Niño 1997–1998 and non-El Niño conditions. Geofis Int 42:1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Ogden JC, Ebersole JP (1981) Scale and community structure of coral reef fishes: a long term study of a large artificial reef. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 4:97–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pérez-España EH, Galván-Magaña F, Abítia-Cárdenas LA (1996) Variaciones temporales y espaciales en la estructura de la comunidad de peces de arrecifes rocosos del suroeste del Golfo de California, México. C Mar 22:273–294

  • Pires AM, Cowx IG, Coelho MM (2000) Benthic macroinvertebrate communities of intermittent streams in the middle reaches of the Guadiana Basin (Portugal). Hydrobiology 435:167–175

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramos-Miranda J, Mouillot D, Flores-Hernandez D, Sosa Lopez A, Do Chi T, Ayala-Pérez L (2005) Changes in four complementary facets of fish diversity in a tropical coastal lagoon after 18 years: a functional interpretation. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 304:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reyes-Bonilla H, Alvarez-Filip L (2008) Long-term changes in taxonomic distinctness and trophic structure of reef fishes at Cabo Pulmo reef, Gulf of California. Proceedings of the 11th International coral reef symposium, Ft. Lauderadale, Florida, 7–11 July, Session number 18

  • Robertson DR, Allen GR (2002) Shore fishes of the Tropical Eastern Pacific: an information system. CD-ROM. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama

  • Rodríguez-Romero J, Abítia-Cárdenas LA, Galván-Magaña F, Arvizu-Martínez J, Aguilar PB (1998) Ecology of fish communities from the soft bottoms of Bahía concepción, México. Arch Fish Mar Res 46:61–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodríguez-Romero J, Muhlia-Melo AF, Galván-Magaña F, Gutiérrez-Sánchez FJ, Gracia-López V (2005) Fish assemblages around Espíritu Santo Island and Espíritu Santo Seamount in the lower Gulf of California, México. Bull Mar Sci 64:383–390

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers SI, Clarke KR, Reynolds JD (1999) The taxonomic distinctness of coastal bottom-dwelling fish communities of the North-east Atlantic. J Anim Ecol 68:769–782

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saldívar-Lucio RE (2010) Cambios a largo plazo en la ictiofauna arrecifal del parque nacional Cabo Pulmo Baja California Sur, México. Disertación, Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional

  • Sánchez-Ortiz C, Arreola-Robles JL, Aburto-Oropeza O, Cortés-Hernández M (1997) Peces de arrecifes en la región de La Paz, BCS. In: Urbán RJ, Ramírez RM (eds) La Bahía de La Paz, investigación y conservación, 1ra edn. La Paz, Mexico, pp 177–188

    Google Scholar 

  • Sosa-López A, Ramos-Miranda J, Flores-Hernández D, Mouillot D, Do-Chi T (2005) Evidencia de Cambios en la Diversidad Ictiofaunística de la Laguna de Términos, México. Jaina 15:7–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomson DA, Findley LT, Kerstitch AN (2000) Reef fishes of the sea of Cortez. University of Texas, Austin

    Google Scholar 

  • Uscanga-Aguilar S (2002) Caracterización de la comunidad íctica capturada con red agallera en Isla San José, B.C.S., México. Disertación, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur

  • Viesca-Lobaton C (2003) Cambios temporales en la estructura de la comunidad de peces de arrecifes rocosos en la parte sur-occidental del Golfo de California. Disertación, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur

  • Villarreal-Cavazos A, Reyes-Bonilla H, Arizpe-Covarrubias O, Bermúdez-Almada B (2000) Los peces del arrecife de Cabo Pulmo, Golfo de California, México: lista sistemática y aspectos de abundancia y biogeografía. Rev Biol Trop 48:413–424

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Villegas-Sánchez CA, Abítia-Cárdenas LA, Gutiérrez-Sánchez FJ, Galván-Magaña F (2009) Rocky-reef fish assemblages at San José Island, México. Rev Mex Biodivers 80:169–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Warwick RM, Clarke KR (1995) New biodiversity measures reveal a decrease in taxonomic distinctness which increasing stress. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 129:301–305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warwick RM, Clarke KR (1998) Taxonomic distinctness and environmental assessment. J Appl Ecol 35:532–543

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warwick RM, Clarke KR (2001) Practical measures of marine biodiversity based on relatedness of species. Oceanogr Mar Biol Annu Rev 39:207–231

    Google Scholar 

  • Warwick RM, Light J (2002) Death assemblages of mollusks on St Martin’s Flats, Isles of Scilly, a surrogate for regional biodiversity? Biodivers Conserv 11:99–112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warwick RM, Ashman CM, Brown AR, Clarke KR, Dowell B, Hart B, Lewis RE, Shillabeer N, Somerfield PJ, Tapp JF (2002) Inter-annual changes in the biodiversity and community structure of the macrobenthos in Tees Bay and the Tees estuary, UK, associated with local and regional environmental events. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 234:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeitzchel B (1969) Primary productivity in the Gulf of California. Mar Biol 3:201–207

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Northwest Biological Research Center (CIBNOR) and National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) for providing financial support for this study, as well as the University Autonomous of Baja California Sur for providing facilities to the first author for carrying out these studies. Felipe Galván-Magaña is also grateful to Instituto Politécnico Nacional (COFAA, EDI) for fellowships.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste (CIBNOR), Apdo. Postal 128 La Paz, C.P. 23000, Mexico, BCS, Mexico

    Emelio Barjau-González, Jesús Rodríguez-Romero & Juana López-Martínez

  2. Departamento Académico de Biología Marina, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur (UABCS), Apdo. Postal 19-B, La Paz, C.P. 23000, Mexico, BCS, Mexico

    Emelio Barjau-González

  3. Departamento de Pesquerías y Biología Marina, Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas (CICIMAR-IPN), Apdo. Postal 592. La Paz, C.P. 23000, Mexico, BCS, Mexico

    Felipe Galván-Magaña

Authors
  1. Emelio Barjau-González
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jesús Rodríguez-Romero
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Felipe Galván-Magaña
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Juana López-Martínez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Felipe Galván-Magaña.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Barjau-González, E., Rodríguez-Romero, J., Galván-Magaña, F. et al. Changes in the taxonomic diversity of the reef fish community of San José Island, Gulf of California, Mexico. Biodivers Conserv 21, 3543–3554 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-012-0378-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-012-0378-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation