Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2019, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (5): 86-97.doi: 10.11978/2019001CSTR: 32234.14.2019001

• Marine Biology • Previous Articles    

Study on fish community structure and its relationship with environmental factors in Fangchenghe Estuary of Guangxi, China

Sixuan HE1,Binyuan HE2()   

  1. 1. College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, Beijing 100081, China
    2. Guangxi Academy of Oceanography, Nanning 530022, China
  • Received:2019-01-01 Revised:2019-04-28 Online:2019-09-20 Published:2019-10-09
  • Contact: Binyuan HE E-mail:hebinyuan2008@126.com
  • Supported by:
    National Key Research and Development Program of China(2017YFC0506100);Science and Technology Project of State Oceanic Administration(YLFCJ20164006-F);Science and Technology Project of Guangxi Oceanic Administration(GXHYJ100);Guangxi Science and Technology Project(AA17129002)

Abstract:

Based on the survey in May, August and November 2016 and February 2017, the spatial and seasonal dynamics of the fish community structure and its relationship with the environmental factors in Fangchenghe Estuary of Guangxi, China were studied. A total of 95 species of fishes were collected in four seasons, belonging to two classes, 12 orders, 37 families, and 69 genera. Among them, 72 species were warm water fishes and 23 species were warm temperate fishes, accounting for 75.8% and 24.2% of the total, respectively. As for their ecological types, the bottom and near-bottom fishes were the dominant species, which accounted for 86.3% of the total species. In all, 60 species in spring, 59 species in summer, 54 species in autumn, and 46 species in winter were recorded. The similarity index between summer and autumn was the highest among season pairs. According to the index of relative importance (IRI), the whole-year dominant species were Sebastiscus marmoratus and Siganus canaliculatus, whose IRI values were higher than 500; 10 main species included Acanthopagrus latus, Equulites rivulatus, Callionymus richardsoni, Pagrus major, and so on, whose IRI values ranged from 100 to 500. Siganus canaliculatus acted as the biggest dominant species in both summer and autumn, so did Sebastiscus marmoratus in spring and Equulites rivulatus in winter. The annual average resource density and biomass of the study area were 45836 individual·km -2and 435.21 kg·km -2, respectively. The resource abundance varied significantly among pairs of seasons or regions. The scale of species abundance per sample ranged from 2 to 21 species; the species diversity index H′, from 0.468 to 4.031; the richness index d, from 0.120 to 1.926; and the evenness index J, from 0.181 to 0.969. Cluster analysis, analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) and similarity of percentage (SIMPER) showed that there existed some spatial-temporal heterogeneity in the fish community structure. Correlation analysis showed that the water temperature, salinity and nitrate content were the major environmental factors affecting the fish community structure.

Key words: fish, species composition, community structure, environmental factor, Fangchenghe Estuary

CLC Number: 

  • P735.542