Frontiers in Marine Science (Dec 2015)
Historical freshwater fish ecology: a long-term view of distribution changes and biological invasions
Abstract
Past processes and events may have an important influence on contemporaneous ecological patterns, including current human impacts on landscapes and organisms. In spite of that, most of the ecological knowledge has been built upon short-term studies, which very rarely exceed one decade. Ecology and Conservation Biology have an important lack of historical approaches, a deficiency that may become a hindrance for the management of natural systems. In this talk I will present examples of how historical information on the distribution of freshwater fish and other aquatic organisms can be used to address ecological questions. Most analyses are based on two important Spanish historical written sources: the Relaciones de Felipe II (16th century) and the Madoz Dictionary (19th century). The examples considered include the European eel (Anguilla anguilla), the brown trout (Salmo trutta), the common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and the white clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius italicus), among other species, as well as questions related to biological invasions, habitat loss and the impacts of global warming. The outputs of ecological research based on historical data often become useful tools for present-day biodiversity conservation planning and actions.
Keywords
