J. Belliard et al., REGIONAL AND LONGITUDINAL PATTERNS OF FISH COMMUNITY STRUCTURE IN THESEINE RIVER BASIN, FRANCE, Environmental biology of fishes, 50(2), 1997, pp. 133-147
The fish communities of 371 sites from 4 natural regions of the Seine
River basin were studied. The sites were located from small to medium
size rivers (catchment area : 5 to 3895 km(2)). We examined the differ
ences between local communities according to river size (estimated by
catchment area) and region. In the Seine River basin, fish communities
follow a general organisation rule: total species richness increases
with river size and importance of limnophilic species versus rheophili
c ones increases from upstream to downstream. However, fish communitie
s show differences of total species richness, species richness of repr
oductive groups and species composition between the four natural regio
ns of the basin. Particularly, river size and regional organisation of
environmental factors interact on species composition of communities
and several regional patterns of longitudinal changes of fish communit
ies are identified. The origin and range of regional differences of fi
sh communities are discussed according to historical and environmental
factors.