Landscape-scale determinants of native and non-native Great Plains fish distributions

Abstract

Aim: Landscape-scale factors may have differential effects on the distribution of native and non-native fishes and may help explain invasion success and species declines. Location: Great Plains, Wyoming, USA. Methods: We used hierarchical Bayesian mixture models and constrained ordination techniques to evaluate associations between landscape-scale factors on native and non-native fish species richness, reproductive guilds and individual species distributions. Results: Predicted responses between landscape-scale factors and native and non-native fish species richness were similar, except non-native fish species richness that was positively associated with density of oil and gas wells. Non-native fish species richness was also positively associated with native fish species richness. Spawning guild composition differed between native and non-native fishes. Canonical correspondence analysis revealed that the most abundant non-native and only a few native species were positively associated with oil and gas wells. Main conclusions: The similar relationships between native and non-native fish species richness are likely evidence that they share similar ecological rules, which supports that non-native species become naturalized and they may be affected by the same environmental factors that determine distribution of native species.