The relative influences of exotic species and environmental factors on an Iberian native fish community

Spatial variation in the native fish community of the lower Guadiana basin (southern Iberia) was related to both biotic (abundance of exotic species) and environmental factors using canonical correspondence analysis, CCA. After choosing the best predictors among the environmental and biotic variables, we partitioned the total variation in native species abundances (18 species-size combinations by 44 sampling locations matrix) into that accounted for (1) solely by selected environmental variables, (2) solely by selected biotic variables, (3) by both environmental and biotic variables together, and (4) that unexplained. Of the 22 variables initially considered in the environmental CCA, only RIVER (dummy variable codifying sampling locations belonging to the main river), SALT (dummy variable codifying sampling locations belonging to tributaries that discharge to the brackish Guadiana), substrate heterogeneity, and macrobenthos abundance were selected as best predictors. In the biotic CCA, three species-size combinations were selected from the eight considered: Micropterus salmoides > 150 mm in total length (TL), Lepomis gibbosus > 100 mm in TL and Gambusia holbrooki. The total variation in the native fish community was partitioned into the following components: purl environmental (24.4%), pure biotic (12.4%), shared (9.2%) and unexplained (54.0%). There was a significant influence of exotic fish on native community variation after accounting for the effect of environmental factors.