Connectivity of fish communities in a tropical floodplain river system and predicted impacts of potential new dams

Abstract

Longitudinal and lateral connectivity is important for mobile aquatic species in rivers for reproductive migrations, recruitment, gene flow and access to food resources across habitat types. Water resource developments such as dams and levees may disrupt these connections, causing river fragmentation and loss of access to highly productive habitats such as floodplain wetlands. We used sulfur stable isotopes as a tracer to estimate patterns of fish movement in an unregulated river in tropical northern Australia, taking advantage of observed spatial variation in sulfur isotope values of their food resources across the catchment. We also modelled the flow and barrier related impacts of potential dam development scenarios on fish movement. Fish with isotope values significantly different from local prey values were determined to be migrants. In the ‘no dams’ scenario, movement varied among fish species (0–44% migrant fish within species where n > 5) and sites (0–40% migrant fish within sites where n > 5), and immigration was higher in more connected sites. Impacts of water resource development on fish movement varied between dam scenarios, with predictions that a dam on the main channel of the Mitchell River would have the highest impact of the three individual dam scenarios. This study provides critical information on how flow-mediated connectivity supports patterns of fish community movement in an unregulated river system. The generic quantitative approach of combining tracers of fish movement with connectivity modelling provides a powerful predictive tool. While we used sulfur stable isotopes to estimate fish movement, our approach can be used with other tracers of movement such as otoliths and acoustic telemetry, making it widely applicable to guide sustainable development in other river systems.