Quantitative analyses of local-scale habitat use by fish has been conducted for more than a décade in numerous streams and rivers of North America. Mathematical descriptions of the physical attributes that define statistically distinct microhabitats have been developed for the mobile life stages (larval, juvénile, and adult) of more than 100 species of stream and river fish . Thèse results were obtained using a non-traditional approach to analyzing microhabitat use that employed new study designs, physical habitat measurements, fish sampling, data analyses, and interprétation. Microhabitats were the units of sampling rather than fish locations so that data are obtained on occupied and unoccupied microhabitats. Physical habitat attributes were usually measured on a consistent scale, and the data sets were configured as a sample by attribute (physical habitat attributes and fish présence or abundance) matrix. For eac h species, the hypothesis was teste d that the occupied microhabitats were a distinct subset of the available microhabitats. Only physical attributes that differ among occupied and unoccupied sample groups were included in the définition of species-level microhabitats. Most species and life stages of stream and river fish used a statistically distinct microhabitat, and those microhabitats were almost aiways defined by a few physical attributes. This includes larvae that selectively used very smail-scale habitats when current velocity was less than their maximum sustained swimming speed. Water depth was most often the primary attribute defining microhabitat use, but ail other physical attributes were important to some group of species. Five habitat-use assemblages have been identified for physically diverse, small rivers by balancing species-specific précision with the simplicity of a multispecies-habitat pattern. The five assemblages were associated with distinct types of habitat, an d thèse five microhabitats have been defined with numeric criteria. The five habitat types overlap in space, and a substantial portion of the aquatic habitat in most streams does not meet any criteria. Overall, stream fish appear very flexible in microhabitat use and there is little understanding of the factors responsible for variation in microhabitat use at the local scale. INTRODUCTION
CITATION STYLE
BAIN, M. B. (1995). L’habitat à l’échelle locale : distribution multiparamètre des poissons d’eau courante. Bulletin Français de La Pêche et de La Pisciculture, (337-338–339), 165–177. https://doi.org/10.1051/kmae:1995019
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