A Study on the Fish Community and Various Guilds to Stream Order in Geum River Watershed

This study was conducted to evaluate fish fauna, species composition, and various guilds against stream orders along with analysis of fish community structure and diversity in Geum River watershed from 2005 to 2007. The total number of fish collected was 4,216 representing 12 families with 56 species. Zacco platypus was the most abundant fish species with 26% in relative abundance (RA). Korean endemic species were 24 species including Zacco koreanus, Microphysogobio yaluensis, Gobiobotia nakdongensis, and Iksookimia koreensis, etc. We also collected endangered fish species such as G. nakdongensis, Liobagrus obesus, and Pseudopungtungia nigra, etc., and their new distribution sites were found in the survey, providing some sites of the fish conservation and protection. Fish tolerance and trophic guilds analysis showed that the proportion of sensitive species, intermediate species, and tolerant species were 33.4%, 29.3%, and 37.3%, respectively and omnivores and insectivores were 48.1 % and 38.4%, respectively. Analysis of site-base study indicated that tolerant species and omnivore species were high in some polluted tributary streams (i.e., Gap and Miho stream) and sensitive and insectivore species were low. In the functional relations, expressed as simple linear regression equations, of stream order on fish metric attributes, showed that the number of species and the number of individuals increased as the stream order increases. This phenomenon was explained by greater availability of stable water volume, rich food, and higher physical habitat capacity. Such guild compositions and stream order characteristics of the river influenced the community structures, based on species diversity, dominance and evenness index in the study. This study may be used as important data in the future for comparisons of fish fauna and compositions before and after two weir (dam) constructions in the middle of Geum River by the government.