The Devil Is In The Details: Landscape Features Are Insufficient To Explain Patterns Of Non-Native Fishes Distribution In North Patagonian Streams

Ecological communities are structured by combinations of factors known as habitat templates. These templates work as a filter allowing only species with particular traits or phenotypes to establish and persist excluding all others. Defining which habitat variables and spatial scales drive the assembly of freshwater communities is key to effective and efficient management of fluvial ecosystems. We took advantage of the relatively recent and well-studied history of salmonid introductions in Patagonia to evaluate if non-native species show different patterns of association with abiotic factors depending on the spatial scale of the environmental filter. We used a hierarchical approach to characterized environmental variables at the basin and reach scales to assess their influence on the presence, abundance and structure of the salmonid assemblages in breeding streams. We saw no evidence that presence/absence patterns of salmonid distribution were driven by landscape variables, except for those basins with physical environmental barriers to colonization. However, we did find evidence for relative abundances being influenced by climatic and geomorphological variables (e.g., precipitation and relief). Our results do not support a scenario in which any of the salmonid species modulates the distribution of the other species, suggesting that interference has played only a minor role in determining current fish distribution in fluvial systems of the region. Instead, current patterns of presence and abundance of salmonids are best explained as the product of environmental filters. Our findings contribute to our understanding of the ecology of individual species and provide insight into the mechanisms structuring fish assemblages in Southern Hemisphere’s lotic systems.