the plight of freshwater fishes in southern africa...
TRANSCRIPT
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The plight of freshwater fishes in southern Africa: addressing the
taxonomic impediment
Tweddle et al. (2009)
- about 215 described species - high regional endemism - many areas remain largely unexplored
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Fig 1. Five major threat categories and their
established or potential interactive impact on
freshwater biodiversity. [Dudgeon et al. 2006]
Freshwater fishes have become increasingly imperiled by multiple impacts
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Clark et al. (2009) • Barbus andrewi • Langvlei redfin? • Eerster redfin • Langvlei Galaxias?
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Tweddle et al. (2009)
- most well studied region of southern Africa - diversity and distribution generally well known
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Incomplete knowledge of diversity and distribution:
“taxonomic impediment”
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Galaxias
Pseudobarbus Galaxias
Sandelia
Marcusenius
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Many of the lineages are narrow range endemics
Chakona et al. (2013)
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’Giant redfin’ – last refuges
Alien threatens CR fish in Protected Area? Values?
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Swartz et al. (2007)
Pseudobarbus afer species complex
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Chakona et al. (2013)
Sandelia capensis species complex
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Galaxias zebratus species complex
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Swartz et al. (in prep)
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Hex River December 2007
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Hex River March 2008
Nameless and vulnerable
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Current taxonomy impedes conservation of freshwater fishes in southern
Africa
Humphry Greenwood 1992 “Since taxonomy and systematics are basic to all
ichthyological research, I would consider the latter situation (poverty of practicing taxonomists) to be one of the major
non-environmental threats to the world of fishes”
Greenwood, P.H. 1992. Are the major fish faunas well-known? Netherlands Journal of Zoology 42, 131-138.
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Only five species of freshwater fishes
described from South Africa between 1997
and 2015
Waters & Cambray (1997)
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What are the issues?
1. Reduced taxonomic capacity
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2. State of type specimens and access
• Type specimens form the basis of any taxonomic investigation
– Most types are very old, many are no longer in good condition, others have
been lost
– Type material not readily accessible for researchers from developing
countries – most have been deposited in museums overseas
– DNA cannot be extracted from these specimens – sequences of types are
required to verify whether the taxon that one is looking at is indeed new
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3. Challenges with accessing original descriptions
• Old literature difficult to find
– Any new description requires reference to original description
– Access to this literature is difficult for students and researchers from
developing countries
• Language barrier
– Many old descriptions are not in English
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4. Vague original locality details
• Some type localities are vague
– Clear streams of the Cape
– Tugela River
• Lack of human capacity
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5. Pitfalls of barcoding blindly
• Emphasis should be placed on generating reference topogenetypes
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SAIAB’s Topotypes Project
• Identify all type localities of freshwater fishes and frogs described from SA
• Provide original descriptions (including any illustrations)
• Collect topotypic material (vouchers and tissues) – this includes synonyms
• Generate DNA barcodes of all topotypes
• Provide morphometric and meristic data of holotypes and topotypes
• Provide photos and X-rays of Holotypes/Syntypes/Neotypes
• Live colour pictures and x-rays of topotypes
• Photos, GPS coordinates and directions to type localities (Google maps)
• Capacity building
• All data will be made openly available
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Acknowledgements • NRF-FBIP for funding
• SAIAB
• CapeNature, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency and the
Department of Economic Development and Environmental Affairs (Eastern Cape Province)
for sampling permits
• Riaan Van der Walt
• Richard Simbelani
• Land owners
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Thank you
Giant redfin: Pic by Riaan Van der Walt