12th Pacific Science Inter-Congress, 8-12 July 2013
University of the South Pacific, Laucala Bay Campus, Suva, Fiji
Freshwater fishes of the PABITRA Landscape
Transect in Fiji: fragility & resilience in an island
context
Lekima K. F. Copeland1 Aaron P. Jenkins2 and David Boseto3
1
Institute of Applied Sciences, University of the South
Pacific/s11021517@student.usp.ac.fj
2
School of Natural Sciences Edith Cowan University/
apjenkins22@gmail.com
3
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi/ david.boseto@
tamucc.edu
The survey of freshwater fish species along the PABITRA
landscape transect has documented four new records
and three new species to the known freshwater fishes of
Fiji since 2002. The freshwater fish of Fiji, like other high
island Indo-Pacific fishes, have predominantly an
amphidromous life-history which are dominated by
gobioids (Gobiidae and Eleotridae). Several species
collected are important food sources and also are of
cultural totemic importance to local inhabitants along
the vertical transect. Depsite these important roles,
prior to 2002 the biodiversity of the Fijian freshwater
fish fauna remained poorly known. This paper
documents the species within the PABITRA sites and an
overview of the recent advances on the knowledge of
various factors affecting these insular assemblages. It
highlights factors effecting the fragility and resilience of
12th Pacific Science Inter-Congress, 8-12 July 2013
University of the South Pacific, Laucala Bay Campus, Suva, Fiji
these communities, particurlarly focusing on watershed
conditions and the impact of introduced species on
ecosystem resilience.
Key Words: (Fiji, freshwater fish, PABITRA, landscape).