Microhabitat use in a stream fish assemblage. Grossman, G. The Journal of the Zoological Society of London, 1987.
Microhabitat use in a stream fish assemblage. [pdf]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
We examined microhabitat use among fishes in a 37-m section of Coweeta Creek. Numerical abundances of species changed substantially during the 17-month study period. Microhabitat availability, however, did not change markedly. Analyses of microhabitat availability and fish microhabitat use show two main patterns of non-random microhabitat use. Clinostomus funduloides, Notropis coccogenis and Semotilus atromaculatus were significantly over-represented in deep areas with low velocities and depositional substrata. Campostoma oligolepis, Cottus bairdi, Etheostoma blennoides, Rhinichthys cataractae and Salmo gairdneri all occurred in intermediate to deep microhabitats with moderate to high velocities and erosional substrata. Five of seven species exhibited seasonal variation in microhabitat utilization, whereas six species displayed size-related variation in use. Species could be assigned to either a benthic or a water column guild. Species within a guild generally could not be differentiated statistically, whereas members of different guilds were readily separable. These patterns persisted despite changes in numerical abundances. There was no evidence of either exploitation or interference competition for microhabitat, consequently it is unlikely that spatial resources were limiting.

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