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Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand abstractsImpoundment and introductions: their impacts on native fish of the upper Waipori River, New ZealandRichard M. Allibone**National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, P. O. Box 11-115, Hamilton, New Zealand. Email: r.allibone@niwa.cri.nzThe distribution of fish species in tributaries of Lake Mahinerangi, a hydro-electric storage impoundment, and its feeder catchment the upper Waipori River were surveyed. Six fish species were located during the survey of 46 sites, of which Galaxias species and brown trout were the most widely distributed. Only single fish species were recorded at 35 sites (76.1%); two or more at eight sites (17.4%); and none at three sites (6.5%). Absent from all the survey sites was the long-finned eel, the most ubiquitous native fish of New Zealand. The fish distributions and presence of fish passage barriers suggest a dominance hierarchy existed with dominant species excluding other species from certain stream reaches. Brown trout was considered the most dominant species, and koaro and brook char the next most dominant. Two non-migratory galaxiids, the dusky galaxias and Eldons galaxias, were considered the most susceptible to displacement, and have probably suffered range contractions since the creation of Lake Mahinerangi and the introduction of salmonids.Keywords Galaxias; salmonids; distribution; threatened; landlocked; impoundment; dominance; species interaction; community structure
(c) Journal of The Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 29, Number 4, December 1999, pp 291-299
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