Event

Freshwater fish represent an irreplaceable resource for humans and play key ecological roles in the ecosystems they are part of. However, freshwater fish are considered to be amongst the most imperiled taxonomic groups in the planet due to the threats posed by the loss of freshwater habitats, the introduction of non-native species and water pollution. In this context, studying how freshwater fish diversity is changing over time has become a priority. While macroecological research reports that fish diversity in tropical rivers is changing at a lower rate than in areas of temperate climate, more data should be collected and investigated to get a full picture of the nature of biodiversity change in these systems. Particularly, long-term programmes monitoring diversity as well as high quality databases of species traits remain scarce for tropical fish faunas. In my talk, I will explain how ecologists have collected these types of data in Trinidad since last century, and give examples

of how these data can be used to investigate temporal biodiversity change.

 

Ada Eslava is a 3rd year PhD student based at the University of St Andrews, in Scotland. She is supervised by Dr Amy Deacon (UWI St. Augustine), Prof Anne Magurran (University of St. Andrews) and Prof Indar Ramnarine (UWI St. Augustine). She studies freshwater fish diversity and how it changes over time, focusing on case-study locations such as the Northern Range, in Trinidad. Her research interests include ecology, biodiversity & biogeography.