Research Article Open Access Volume 3 • Issue 1 • 1000118 J Marine Sci Res Dev ISSN:2155-9910 JMSRD, an open access journal Open Access Research Article Marine Science Research & Development Bonilla-Gómez et al., J Marine Sci Res Dev 2013, 3:1 http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2155-9910.1000118 *Corresponding author: José Luis Bonilla-Gómez, Department of Marine Sciences and Limnology, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico DF, 04510, Mexico, Tel: (52) 999- 1813611; E-mail: jose.bonilla@comunidad.unam.mx Received January 12, 2013; Accepted February 18, 2013; Published February 22, 2013 Citation: Bonilla-Gómez JL, Badillo M, López K, Gallardo A, Galindo C, et al. (2013) Environmental Infuences on the Abundance of Dominant Fishes in a Very Shallow Tropical Coastal Lagoon in Northwestern Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. J Marine Sci Res Dev 3: 118. doi:10.4172/2155-9910.1000118 Copyright: © 2013 Bonilla-Gómez JL, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Environmental Influences on the Abundance of Dominant Fishes in a Very Shallow Tropical Coastal Lagoon in Northwestern Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico José Luis Bonilla-Gómez 1 *, Maribel Badillo 2 , Korynthia López 3 , Alfredo Gallardo 2 , Carmen Galindo 2 , Daniel Arceo 2 and Xavier Chiappa- Carrara 2 1 Department of Marine Sciences and Limnology, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico D. F., Mexico 2 UNAM-Sisal, Faculty of Science, National University of Mexico, Sisal, Yucatan, Mexico 3 UNAM-Sisal, Faculty of Chemistry, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Sisal, Yucatan, Mexico Keywords: Spatial-seasonal patterns; Multidimensional scaling; Redundancy analysis; La Carbonera lagoon Introduction Te Yucatan peninsula has numerous coastal lagoons, where their structure and function are being modifed by wastewater discharge, groundwater pumping, and land use changes [1]. Tey are generally standing water with the calm hydrodynamics that are essential for many juvenile and adult fsh [2]. Knowledge of the response of these fshes to changes in environmental conditions will contribute to our understanding of the potential efects of anthropogenic impacts on estuarine fsh species [3]. Te habitat patterns; such as mangrove and seagrass can be viewed as a reference of an assemblage of the ichthyofauna for tropical karstic lagoons [4]. In Yucatan, information is also available about fsh assemblages in tropical coastal systems infuenced by freshwater inputs [5,6] and fsh assemblages in a coastal hypersaline lagoon [7]. Tere are many studies of fsh assemblages in temperate systems [8], but little information exists about tropical karstic estuarine systems, particularly along the northwestern coast of the Yucatan peninsula. Several species, such as: Lagodon rhomboides (pinfsh), Sphoeroides testudineus (checkered pufer), Mugil curema (white mullet), Chriodorus atherinoides (hardhead halfeak), Eucinostomus argenteus (silver mojarra) and Eucinostomus gula (Jenny mojarra) have been already described as “abundant” in the coastal lagoons of Yucatan, contributing with more than 50% considering and analysis of the entire fsh assemblage caught with seine net and their importance value index [5,9]. However, few studies analyze the population dynamics of wetland fshes for possible correlations with hydrological variables [10]. In terms of the climatic seasons, the Yucatan peninsula has three marked seasons annually: dry, rainy and north winds [9,11,12]. In small karstic coastal lagoons of the Yucatan, which are a typical system along this coast, the dry season like the hottest reduced and altered the habitat available for fsh species [13]. La Carbonera, a karstic coastal lagoon, is a transitional environment between a karstic land and a marine habitat with high environmental variability over short time scales, and this lagoonal system is important for local fsheries and as bird habitat (e.g., famingos Phoenicopterus ruber). Te present study investigates extreme shallowness of the system along with the susceptibility of environmental changes, the presence of an overlapping between the abundance of six abundant population of fsh among the La Carbonera lagoon defned by four habitat types (channel, seagrass, mangrove and hypersaline), and about the climatic season basis (dry, rainy, and north winds). Materials and Methods Study area La Carbonera coastal lagoon lies on the northwestern Yucatan Abstract Spatial-seasonal patterns of six abundant fshes were analyzed in La Carbonera, a lagoon on the northwestern coast of the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico; between April 2009 and May 2010, via non-parametric multivariate analysis. The null hypothesis tested was that no differences existed in the overlapping of the abundance of fsh species among the lagoon defned by types of habitats (channel, seagrass, mangrove and hypersaline), and by three climatic seasons (dry, rainy, and north winds). Signifcant differences were found in the environmental variables between climatic season and the types of habitat, except for the temperature and pH. Result of the multidimensional scaling suggests a signifcant difference in habitats with characteristics of channel and presence of mangrove. The redundancy analysis showed that depth and salinity were the best related to species abundance. Oxygen and temperature made an additional signifcant contribution to the canonical model, it was strongly related to the north winds season, due to the fact that the strong winds, which can last a week, increase the oxygen content of the water but decrease the temperature. Relative abundances were strongly associated with depth (dry; r=0.76), salinity (rainy; r=0.83) and oxygen (north winds; =-0.80). Results suggest that the different habitats are used as feeding zones; and that during the dry season, there was a overlapping in abundance of species. Thus, information proposed protection strategies in this season to contribute to fsh biodiversity conservation in a valuable area of Yucatan Peninsula.