1st Edition

Ecology and Conservation of Fishes

By Harold M. Tyus Copyright 2012
    574 Pages 141 Color & 258 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    Written as a stand-alone textbook for students and a useful reference for professionals in government and private agencies, academic institutions, and consultants, Ecology and Conservation of Fishes provides broad, comprehensive, and systematic coverage of all aquatic systems from the mountains to the oceans. The book begins with overview discussions on the ecology, evolution, and diversity of fishes. It moves on to address freshwater, estuarine, and marine ecosystems and identifies factors that affect the distribution and abundance of fishes. It then examines the adaptations of fishes as a response to constraints posed in ecosystems. The book concludes with four chapters on applied ecology to discuss the critical issues of management, conservation, biodiversity crises, and climate change.

    Major marine fisheries have collapsed, and there are worldwide declines in freshwater fish populations. Fishery scientists and managers must become more effective at understanding and dealing with resource issues. If not, fish species, communities, and entire ecosystems will continue to decline as habitats change and species are lost. Ecology and Conservation of Fishes has taken a historical and functional approach to explain how we got where we are, providing old and new with a better foundation as ecologists and conservationists, and most importantly, it awakens senses of purpose and need. Past management practices are reviewed, present programs considered, and the need for incorporating principles of applied ecology in future practices is emphasized.

    Use and Features of the Book
    List of Greek and Latin Words

    Introduction
    Ecology of Fishes: Content and Scope
    History of Ecology
    Fish Ecology Explored.
    What Is a Fish?
    Fish: The First Vertebrate

    Evolutionary Ecology of Fishes
    Aquatic Evolution, Origins, and Affinities
    Aquatic Evolution
    Evolutionary Ecology
    Origins and Affinities of Fishes
    Paleoecology of Fishes

    Aquatic Environment
    Aquatic Ecosystems.
    Properties of Water
    Seawater
    Fish in Water: Where is the Gravity?

    Fish Diversity
    Diversity 1: Chordates to Sharks
    Introduction.
    From Chordate to Vertebrate
    Agnathans: Hagfishes and Lampreys
    Conodonts and Ostracoderms
    Early Gnathostomes.
    Chondrichthyes.

    Diversity 2: Teleostomes to Bony Fishes
    Radiation of Teleostomes
    Acanthodians: Spiny Ones
    Sarcopterygians: Lobe-Fin Fishes
    Actinopterygians: Ray-Fins

    Diversity 3: Teleosts
    Diversity and adaptation
    Lower Teleosts
    Cods and Anglerfishes
    Higher Teleosts.

    Radiations, Extinctions, and Biodiversity
    Life on Earth Has Not Been Easy
    Fish Extinctions and a Few Questions
    Ecological Concepts
    Case Study: Fishes of Fossil Lake.

    Freshwater Ecosystems
    Zoogeography of Fishes
    Patterns and Species Diversity
    Factors Affecting Distribution
    Adaptation
    Continental Movement
    Fishes of Zoogeographic Regions
    Vicariance Biogeography
    Pleistocene Glaciation
    The Future
    Ecological Concepts

    Lotic Systems: Flowing Water and the Terrestrial Environment
    A Drop of Rain
    Flowing Water
    Characteristics of Streams
    Ecological Concepts

    Coldwater Streams
    Structure and Function
    Coldwater Fishes
    Constraints on Trout
    Case Study: Greenback Cutthroat Trout

    Fishes of Warmwater Streams and Rivers
    A warmwater Fish Viewpoint
    The Stream Connected
    Stream Fishes
    Large River Fish Faunas
    Case Study: The North American Paddlefish

    Lentic Systems: Standing Water
    The Drop is Stored (temporarily)
    Standing Water Ecosystems
    Characteristics of Lakes
    Structure
    Function
    Fish in Lakes
    Ecological Concepts
    Case Study: Lake Baikal

    Fishes of Temperate and Tropical Great Lakes
    General
    Fishes of temperate Lakes
    Fishes of tropical lakes
    Case Study: Cichlids of East African Great Lakes

    Artificial Lakes and Groundwater Reservoirs
    Artificial Lakes: Reservoirs
    Structure and Function
    Ecological Concepts.
    Cumulative Effects
    Fish and Reservoirs
    Groundwater
    Case Study: Death Valley and Devils Hole

    Estuarine and Marine Ecosystems

    Estuaries and Coastal Zone
    Coastal Zone
    What are Estuaries?
    Drowned River Estuaries
    Estuarine Fishes
    Ecological Concepts
    Estuaries as Nutrient Traps
    Case Study: Alewives as Migrating Subsystems

    Marine Environments, Intertidal Fishes, and Sharks
    Oceanography and Marine Ecology
    Intertidal Zone: Structure and Function.
    Marine Fishes
    Ecological Concepts
    Case Study: The Ultimate Marine Predator.

    Neritic Province and Fisheries
    Inshore Ocean in Perspective
    Pelagic Systems
    Benthic Systems
    Neritic Fishes and the Temperate Zone
    Marine Commercial Fisheries
    Case Study: Cod and Northwest Atlantic Groundfishery

    Oceanic Province and Epipelagic Fishes
    Province
    Epipelagic Zone
    Upwellings
    Case Study: Peruvian Anchoveta

    Deep Sea: Twilight to the Abyss
    Features of the Deep Sea and Its Fishes
    Mesopelagic Zone
    Abyss
    Deep Benthic and Benthopelagic
    Seamounts
    Fish Adaptations in the Deep Sea
    Deepwater Fisheries
    Case Study: Deep-Sea Anglerfish
    Ecological Concepts

    Fish Adaptation

    Fitness, Morphology, and Ecophysiology
    Adaptation and Fitness
    Fish Morphology and Ecophysiology
    Physicochemical Adaptation with Organs

    Energy, Metabolism, and Growth
    Energy Budgets
    Fish Energetics
    Metabolism
    Growth and Aging
    Metabolic Stress
    Stress in Fishes
    Case Study: Measuring Growth and Age in Hard Tissues

    Adaptation, Niche, and Species Interactions
    Adaptation
    The Niche
    Niche Overlap and Response
    Species Interactions

    Populations, Growth, and Regulation
    Fish Populations in General
    Present Status of Fish Populations
    Population Characteristics
    Population Growth
    Population Regulation
    Equilibrium/Nonequilibrium
    Carrying Capacity Problem
    Commercial Exploitation

    Instinct, Learning, and Social Behavior
    Why the Interest in Behavior?
    Instinctive Behavior and Innate Mechanisms
    Biological Clock (biorhythms)
    Cognition and Learning
    Nonreproductive Social Behavior
    Cooperation
    Machiavellian Intelligence
    How to Study Behavior
    Case Study: Behavioral Interactions.

    Trophic Concept and Feeding
    Trophic Concept
    Trophic Cascade
    Feeding adaptations
    Food and Selectivity
    Foraging Behavior and Theory
    Case Study: Prey response—A Matter of Humps?

    Reproductive Ecology and Life History Patterns
    Reproductive Process
    Life History Patterns
    Reproductive Effort and Energy Allocation
    Two Life History Strategies
    Reproductive Tradeoffs: R and K Selection and a 3-D Continuum
    Case Study: Timing of Spawning

    Migration
    Fish Move, Disperse, and Migrate
    Finding the Way Back—Homing
    Spawning Migrations
    Examples and Descriptions
    Oceanadromous Migrations of Atlantic Herring
    Case Study: Migration of Colorado Pikeminnow

    Larval Fish
    Introduction and Importance
    Reproduction and early Life
    Description and Taxonomy
    Larval Ontogeny
    Larval Fish Ecology
    The Niche Revisited.
    Fisheries Ecology and Recruitment Concepts
    Case Study—Larval fish movement

    Applied Ecology: The Human Factor
    Exploitation and Fisheries Management
    Introduction
    Historic Perspective
    Management Practices
    Fisheries: Practices and Problems.
    Concepts of Sustainability
    Ecosystem Approach
    Case Study: Fish Salvage at Tracy.
    Future of the Facility

    Conservation of Fishes I: Crisis and a Response
    Introduction
    Biodiversity
    Biodiversity Crisis.
    Why are Species Presently Going Extinct?
    How many Fish Do We Need?
    Species Problem
    A Response: The New Conservation
    Endangered Fish Recovery?
    Case Study: Can Science Save the Salmon?

    Conservation of Fishes II: Understanding the Decline
    Five Causes
    Physical Habitat Alteration
    Introduced Species
    Overfishing
    Hybridization
    Water Pollution
    Are All suspects Guilty?
    Case Study: Chesapeake Bay—An Ecological Disaster.

    Changes and the Future
    Introduction
    Interesting Times
    Global Climate
    GCC: Effects on Fish and Habitat.
    Fish and Fisheries in the Future
    Welcome to the Twenty-First Century.

    Literature Cited
    Glossary
    Appendix -- A Guide to Major Fish Groups
    Index

    Biography

    Harold M. Tyus is Emeritus Research Scientist at the Center for Limnology, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, where he taught Ecology of Fishes in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He also is an Adjunct Professor of Environmental Policy and Management at the University of Denver, where he teaches and serves as a faculty advisor. Dr. Tyus received his academic training in the Department of Zoology at North Carolina State University, with the aid of a National Science Foundation fellowship and a scholarship from the National Wildlife Federation. He also was affiliated with the North Carolina Cooperative Fishery Unit, earning an MS studying sunfish phylogenetics and a Ph.D. studying population dynamics and migrations of river herring. His minor concentration was in water resources management.

    Dr. Tyus is a retired researcher and manager for the U.S. Government, serving 23 years with the Army Corps of Engineers and Fish and Wildlife Service. During that time he was involved with environmental impact assessment and studied a wide variety of aquatic habitats, fishes, and human-induced changes in waters of the United States, from east coast oceans, estuaries and wetlands to southwestern desert rivers. He has written and edited numerous scientific papers on fishes and government documents on fish ecology and conservation, including listing and recovery plans for Endangered Species.

    He was a member of the Colorado River Fishes Recovery Team for 12 years, and he has been a consultant and science advisor for industry and government. His professional affiliations include the Desert Fishes Council, the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, and the Society for Conservation Biology. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Fishery Research Biologists and a life member of the American Fisheries Society, which has certified him as a Fishery Scientist and Fisheries Professional.

    "Overall, this volume offers a very good overview of issues that are now critically important in efforts to maintain both fisheries and the ecosystems that support them and in the efforts to maintain biodiversity. … the examples provided and the overall depth of coverage, along with the engaging writing style, combine to make this a very readable and informative book."
    —Susan A. Foster and John A. Baker, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, The Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol. 89, No. 1, 2014

    "Tyus (emer., Univ. of Colorado at Boulder) attempts to better educate future fisheries managers and to infuse classic ecological concepts into modern fisheries management. ...The author writes in a clear, concise manner and includes case studies to illustrate real-world lessons learned. Because of the content, this book is more appropriate for upper-division or graduate-level courses. However, it could be used in a variety of courses, including environmental science, fish and fisheries science, biology, ecology, and ichthyology. Recommended."
    —K. R. Thompson, Ozarks Technical Community College, in CHOICE, May 2012

    "Overall, I find the approach to the subject very comprehensive and pedagogically user-friendly for introductory courses in Ecology and Conservation of Fishes. Dr. Tyus has brought his decades of experience to bear on this fine piece of work in a style that should appeal to students, instructors, and professionals."
    —Emmanuel A. Frimpong, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

    "The contents of a book do not always match the title of the book, but from what I read, this one does so magnificently. Dr. Tyus's early training in academia, his many years in active fisheries field research experiences, combined with his familiarity with the literature, followed by several successful years of teaching at the University of Colorado, Boulder, since his retirement from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, make this book unique among other texts or references. Moreover, his organization of and within each chapter is excellent, providing for very interesting reading. The full color plates add great interest to this fine text/reference."
    —Walter R. Courtenay, Jr., Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Zoology, Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University

    "… has taken a historical and functional approach to explain how we got where we are, providing old and new with a better foundation as ecologists and conservationists, and most importantly, it awakens senses of purpose and need. Past management practices are reviewed, present programs considered, and the need for incorporating principles of applied ecology in future practices is emphasized. Includes a 16-page, full-color insert featuring 141 figures, as well as a glossary, a lexicon of Greek and Latin word roots, and an appendix on fish identification to help students master the text material."
    Northeastern Naturalist, December 2012