On the distributional patterns of Southeast-East Asian freshwater fish and their history

• Published in: Journal of biogeography Vol. 29; no. 9; pp. 1187 - 1199
• Main Author: Yap, S. Y.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01-09-2002; Blackwell Science; Blackwell
• Subjects: Agnatha. Pisces; Biogeography; Biological and medical sciences; Cyprinidae; dispersal; Ecological genetics; Evolution; Fauna; fish assemblage; fish distribution; Freshwater ecology; Freshwater fishes; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genera; geological events; Geology; phenograms; Pisces; River basins; Rivers; Vertebrates: general zoology, morphology, phylogeny, systematics, cytogenetics, geographical distribution; Zoogeography from Fish to Lizards; Asia; South east Asia; Southeast Asia; Freshwater environment; Vertebrata; Zoogeography; Geographic distribution; Animal community; Pisces; Biogeography; Dispersion
• ISSN: 0305-0270; 1365-2699
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2699.2002.00771.x

Aim The extensively published data on Southeast-East Asian freshwater fish communities and distributions were compiled and expressed into phenograms. Location River basins of Southeast China, the Indochinese Peninsula and Sundaland were studied and compared for possible lineages. Methods The Hennig86 program was employed to cluster the basins of the various subregions on the basis of their similarity in fish assemblages. In this cluster analysis, the outgroup comparison method was used, in which a reference was based on which to make corrections for unequal rates of evolution among the lineages. Results South-eastern China, the Indochinese Peninsula and Sundaland are groups of landmass that share a common ancestor and that evolved at distinct epochs and through different geological processes, as shown from the association between the distribution of freshwater fish of Southeast-East Asia and the twenty-one river basins they inhabit. Main conclusions Southeast-East Asia comprises an estimated 3500 cyprinid species. The phenograms obtained, based on their compositional and distributional patterns, suggest that the riverine fish communities of the area studied fall into nineteen biogeographical zones defined by the main river systems and their underlying geology.