https://doi.org/10.4081/jlimnol.2023.2133

The Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (FBIS) fish data: a georeferenced dataset of freshwater fishes occurring in South Africa

Vol. 82 No. s1 (2023): Georeferenced freshwater biodiversity data
Submitted: 10 March 2023
Accepted: 16 March 2023
Published: 31 March 2023
freshwater fish, South Africa, GBIF, occurrence data, FBIS
Abstract Views: 1819
PDF: 386
Supplementary Tabs 1-3: 248
HTML: 33
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

Mohammed Kajee
kjxmoh007@myuct.ac.za
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5249-3095
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town; Freshwater Research Centre, Cape Town; DST/NRF Research Chair in Inland Fisheries and Freshwater Ecology, South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB), Makhanda , South Africa.
Helen F. Dallas
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8133-3365
Freshwater Research Centre, Cape Town; Faculty of Science, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), South Africa.
Aneri Swanepoel
https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0328-7957
Freshwater Research Centre, Cape Town, South Africa.
Charles L. Griffiths
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5791-4725
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Jeremy M. Shelton
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7174-5446
Freshwater Research Centre, Cape Town, South Africa.

Freshwater fishes are recognised as South Africa’s most threatened species group. Reliable, long-term data on fish occurrence records are critical for effectively managing and conserving these species. A comprehensive freshwater fish dataset was compiled and uploaded to the Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (FBIS, freshwaterbiodiversity.org), comprising all available records of formally described freshwater fish species occurring in South Africa. An 18-month historic-data collation effort resulted in the accrual of 35 955 new records of freshwater fish from South Africa spanning 194 years (1828–2022), that have since been uploaded to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Together with pre-existing GBIF records (24 861), a total of 60 837 freshwater fish records are thus now available for South Africa. The data show a marked decline in the number of native fish occurrence records over the last decade. Conversely, the number of occurrences for non-native fishes increased over the past three decades. A data breakdown is provided for each of South Africa’s nine provinces including total number of records, and the numbers of native, non-native, endemic and threatened species. These data provide a much-needed update of the known status and distribution of freshwater fishes in the country.

Dimensions

Altmetric

PlumX Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC
Arthington AH, Dulvy NK, Gladstone W, Winfield IJ, 2016. Fish conservation in freshwater and marine realms: status, threats and management. Aquat. Conserv. 26:838–857. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.2712
Chakona A, Jordaan MS, Raimondo DC, Bills RI, Skelton PH, Colff D van Der, 2022. Diversity, distribution and extinction risk of native freshwater fishes of South Africa. J. Fish Biol. 100:1044–1061. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.15011
Dallas H, Molteno A, Ewart-Smith J, Janssens P, 2007. Rivers Database Version 3: User Manual. Rep. Dep. Water Aff. For. River Heal. Program. Prep. by Freshw. Consult. Gr. Assoc. with Soft Cr. Syst.
Dallas H, Shelton J, Sutton T, Tri Cuptura D, Kajee M, Job N, 2022. The Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (FBIS)–mobilising data for evaluating long-term change in South African rivers. African J. Aquat. Sci. 47:291-306. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2989/16085914.2021.1982672
Dudgeon D, Arthington AH, Gessner MO, Kawabata Z-I, Knowler DJ, Lévêque C, Naiman RJ, Prieur-Richard A-H, Soto D, Stiassny MLJ, 2006. Freshwater biodiversity: importance, threats, status and conservation challenges. Biol. Rev. 81:163–182. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1464793105006950
Ellender B, Weyl O, 2014. A review of current knowledge, risk and ecological impacts associated with non-native freshwater fish introductions in South Africa. Aquat. Invasions 9:117–132. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3391/ai.2014.9.2.01
Geist J, 2011. Integrative freshwater ecology and biodiversity conservation. Ecol. Indic. 11:1507–1516. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2011.04.002
Kajee M, Henry DAW, Dallas H, Griffiths CL, Pegg J, Colff D Van Der, Impson D, Chakona A, Raimondo DC, Job N, How the Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (FBIS) is supporting national freshwater fish conservation decisions in South Africa. Front. Environ. Sci. 11:303. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2023.1122223
Skelton PH, 2001. A Complete Guide to the Freshwater Fishes of Southern Africa. Southern Book Publishers (Pty) Ltd, Johannesburg.
Skelton PH, 2002. Changes to the scientific and common names of southern African freshwater fishes. African J. Aquat. Sci. 27:171–174. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2989/16085914.2002.9626588
Skelton PH, 2016. Name changes and additions to the southern African freshwater fish fauna. African J. Aquat. Sci. 41:345–351. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2989/16085914.2016.1186004
Skowno AL, Poole CJ, Raimondo DC, Sink KJ, van Deventer H, van Niekerk L, et al., 2019. National Biodiversity Assessment 2018: The status of South Africa’s ecosystems and biodiversity. Synthesis Report. South African National Biodiversity Institute, an entity of the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Pretoria: 214 pp.
Weyl OLF, Ellender BR, Wassermann RJ, Truter M, Dalu T, Zengeya TA, Smit NJ, 2020. Alien freshwater fauna in South Africa, p. 153–183. In: Wilgen BW van, J Measey, DM Richardson, JR Wilson, and TA Zengeya (eds.), Biological Invasions in South Africa, Switzerland: Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32394-3_6

Edited by

Diego Fontaneto, National Research Council, Water Research Institute (CNR-IRSA), Verbania Pallanza, Italy

Supporting Agencies

JRS Biodiversity Foundation, South African National Biodiversity Institute, National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa, Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

How to Cite

Kajee, Mohammed, Helen F. Dallas, Aneri Swanepoel, Charles L. Griffiths, and Jeremy M. Shelton. 2023. “The Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (FBIS) Fish Data: A Georeferenced Dataset of Freshwater Fishes Occurring in South Africa”. Journal of Limnology 82 (s1). https://doi.org/10.4081/jlimnol.2023.2133.
Copyright (c) 2023 The Author(s) Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.


List of Cited By :

Crossref logo