Fish species inventory of Yasuní National Park, Ecuador
Data files
Jan 20, 2025 version files 534.19 KB
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Dryad_Checklist_Taxon_Template_14_01_2025.xls
482.30 KB
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README.md
6.83 KB
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Supplementary_tables.xls
45.06 KB
Abstract
Despite limited access and rather deficient sampling in many lowland areas of eastern Ecuador, scientists have been able to demonstrate that this specific region of Amazonia houses extraordinarily high concentrations of species within several taxa – terrestrial and aquatic, plant and animal, vertebrate and invertebrate.
In this work, we developed an updated list of the ichthyofauna of the Yasuní National Park (YNP) based on an extensive literature review and databases of the most representative ichthyological collections from Ecuador. Our results yielded 457 species of freshwater fishes distributed in 45 families and 13 orders. This number substantially exceeded previous fish lists from YNP and accounts for a considerable proportion of species inhabiting the Napo River basin as well as the entire Amazon River basin.
The occurrence of far more species within this limited geographic space than have been previously reported, the services these species provide to humans, and the absence of alien species, thoroughly justifies the greater efforts and investment that should be allocated to the protection and management of western Amazonian lands and waters.
README: Fish species inventory of Yasuní National Park, Ecuador
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.hx3ffbgnn
Description of the data and file structure
The supplementary materials are divided into two files, resulting from a study on fish diversity.
The first file, titled Checklist_Taxon_Template, is a large dataset containing a list of fish species present in Yasuní National Park (YNP). This file follows the format required by the journal Biodiversity Data Journal, where each row represents a species, and columns contain qualifiers (e.g., occurrence IDs from Ecuadorian collections, locality, coordinates, collection date, collectors, and more) needed for data validation and table formatting. It is important to note that for each species, the voucher number is indicated in the "catalogNumber" column, while the museum code where the voucher is stored is specified in the "collectionCode" column, located toward the right end of the file. Definitions for each column are provided as comments in the first row, alongside the column titles. The first file contains two sheets: Taxa and Materials. Taxa contains information regarding species taxonomy status, species distributions, and citations of references in the manuscript where the respective species has been mentioned. Materials contains museological information of the specimens. "N/A" denotes whenever data from the species was not applicable for the respective qualifier (column); N/As did not interfere with uploading the data to produce a checklist on the journal's platform.
Empty cells in this document indicate unavailable or inapplicable information; these gaps did not interfere with uploading the data to produce a checklist on the journal's platform.
Taxa Qualifiers
Taxon Local ID: Species unique number
Kingdom: Major taxonomic rank
Phylum: Taxonomic rank below Kingdom and above subphylum
Subphylum: Taxonomic rank below phylum and above class
Class: Rank below phylum (or subphylum, if present) and above order
Order: Rank below class and above family
Family: Rank below order and above genus
Genus: Rank in biological classification that is below family and above species
Species: The most specific rank in biological classification
Authorship: The scientist(s) who first validly published the name of the species. This is typically accompanied by the year of publication.
Distribution: River basins or regions within Amazonia or the Ecuadorian Amazon where the species is known to inhabit or has been collected.
Notes: Citations of references in the manuscript indicating when the respective species has been mentioned or studied in Yasuní National Park or its surroundings.
Materials Qualifiers
Taxon Local ID: Species unique number, this number is identical for each species between the sheets Taxa and Materials.
typeStatus: Nomenclatural type applied to the subject, if it is not a type material, it should be mentioned is "other material"
occurrenceID: an identifier of the occurrence
catalogNumber: an identifier for the record within the museum collection (voucher number)
recordedBy: a list of people responsible for recording the original occurrence
taxonID: an identifier for the set of taxon
scientificName: scientific name of the species
Kingdom: Major taxonomic rank
Phylum: Taxonomic rank below Kingdom and above class
Class: Rank below phylum (or subphylum, if present) and above order
Order: Rank below class and above family
Family: Rank below order and above genus
Genus: Rank in biological classification that is below family and above species
specificEpithet: The name of the species epithet of the "scientificName"
taxonRank: The taxonomic rank of the most specific name in the scientificName
continent: continent where the species was sampled
country: country where the species was sampled
stateProvince: The name of the next smaller administrative region than country where the species was collected
county: The name of the next smaller administrative region than province where the species was collected
municipality: The name of the next smaller administrative region than county where the species was collected
locality: specific description of the place where the species was collected
verbatimLocality: the original textual description of the place where the species was collected
elevation: description of the elevation (usually above the sea level)
verbatimCoordinates: description of the original spatial coordinates of the location
verbatimLongitude: longitude of the location
verbatimLatitude: latitude of the location
verbatimSRS: the spatial reference system (SRS) upon which coordinates given in latitude and longitude are based
identificationQualifier: A controlled value to express the determiner´s doubts about the identification
samplingProtocol: the name of the methods used during a sampling event
eventDate: The date-time during which an Event occurred
year: the four-digit year in which the event occurred
month: the integer month in which the event occurred
day: the integer day of the month in which the event occurred
fieldNumber: an identifier given to the event in the field. Often serves as a link between field notes and the event
rightsHolder: a person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource
accessRights: information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status
collectionID: an identifier for the collection or dataset from which the record was derived
institutionCode: the name (or acronym) in use by the institution custody of the object(s) or information referred to in the record
collectionCode: the name acronym, coden, or initialism identifying the collection or data set from which the record was derived
ownerInstitutionCode: the name (or acronym) in use by the institution having ownership of the object(s) or information referred to in the record
basisOfRecord: the specific nature of the data record
The second file, titled Supplementary tables, contains tables derived from the first file (mentioned above) and the manuscript. These tables include fish family richness in YNP (Table S1), a list of exploited species (Table S2), and vulnerable species present in YNP (Table S3). Although these tables are cited in the manuscript, they were uploaded to Dryad due to character limitations in the journal. Readers can refer to Dryad for detailed inspection of the tables.
Overall, the files are organized in tables and saved in Excel format. Each table includes headers that provide all the necessary information for understanding the data.
Methods
To compile a list of fish species occurring in the YNP, an updated database of species present in YNP was developed from previous lists of fish species known from the Napo Basin of Ecuador and Peru (Barriga 2012, Sanchez et al. 2013, Jézéquel et al. 2020). Later, this database was curated based on records occurring within and around the boundaries of YNP. All fish records, old and new, were validated by databases of the two major ichthyological collections in Ecuadorian museums: Museo de Historia Natural Gustavo Orcés – Escuela Politécnica Nacional (MEPN) and Colección Ictiológica del Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad, Quito, Ecuador (MECN-DP). These records are the product of decades of expeditions to the Ecuadorian Amazon and curatorial activities of each museum. In addition, digital databases of fishes collections from the Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH) and National Museum of Natural Hitory (USNM), have been verified for records of several species absent in MEPN or MECN-DP. Because it is possible that fish species registered outside YNP boundaries occur within the reserve, for this study we included records from a 15 km range beyond YNP limits. We did not include records from other protected areas nearby or more geographically distant sites despite any ecological similarities. Finally, species classification and ordering was also updated to current taxonomic revisions of each group according to Eschmeyer’s Catalog of Fishes – California Academy of Sciences.