Southeastern Fishes Council
SFC Abstracts
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Biodiversity and Conservation of Fishes in the South:
Lessons from Historical Ecology
ROBERT M. WOOD1 and RICHARD L. MAYDEN2
1Department of Biology, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO 63103;
2Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
The southeastern ichthyofauna is one of the most diverse faunas in North America. This region has suffered fewer dramatic paleoclimatic changes since the Cretaceous than other regions. Sampling by ichthyological parties have not only revealed a significant number of taxa with restricted distributions but have yielded substantial museum data to document temporal and spatial changes in the fauna. Recent advances into systematic (evolutionary) relationships within this fauna, using these museum data, have revealed numerous replicated and highly predictable historical patterns of diversification within the region. Historical Ecology incorporates systematic hypotheses of organisms into efforts to better understand the origins of not only their distributions but their ecologies, physiologies, behaviors, etc. This novel research program promises to enhance our abilities to accomplish objectives frequently outlined in management and conservation plans. Phylogenetic hypotheses are historical templates onto which distributions and biological attributes of organisms may be superimposed to reveal origins of traits important in conservation and management. For some taxa these traits are unique; for others they are historically constraining (inflexible) elements of imperiled faunas. Recent advances in this program also offer assistance to managers in the decision making process of prioritizing and targeting species and/or communities for protection.
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