Fish ecology in urban streams

Abstract

The development of agriculture allowed humans to congregate in settlements which developed into the modern urban societies. This urbanization process caused profound habitat changes, giving rise to urban ecosystems where the structure, functioning and the dynamics of the ecosystem are determined by human activities. Despite the increasing rates of urbanization worldwide, the ecology of urban ecosystems is poorly known. In this chapter, we focus on urban stream ecosystems to expose the current advances in urban fish ecology. We explore topics concerning urban fish biodiversity, ecological interactions and adaptation to urban systems. We also explore different approaches and methodologies for the study of urban fish. Our goal is to introduce the theoretical background and analytical tools to study urban fishes with the intent of facilitating future research.