The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Dissertations Summer 8-2010 Patterns of Diversity, Zoogeography, and Ecological Gradients in Honduran Freshwater Fishes Wilfredo Antonio Matamoros University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations Part of the Biology Commons, and the Marine Biology Commons Recommended Citation Matamoros, Wilfredo Antonio, "Patterns of Diversity, Zoogeography, and Ecological Gradients in Honduran Freshwater Fishes" (2010). Dissertations. 979. https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/979 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. The University of Southern Mississippi PATTERNS OF DIVERSITY, ZOOGEOGRAPHY, AND ECOLOGICAL GRADIENTS IN HONDURAN FRESHWATER FISHES by Wilfredo Antonio Matamoros Abstract of a Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2010 ABSTRACT PATTERNS OF DIVERSITY, ZOOGEOGRAPHY, AND ECOLOGICAL GRADIENTS IN HONDURAN FRESHWATER FISHES by Wilfredo Antonio Matamoros August 2010 Nineteen major river drainages across Honduras were sampled from 2005-2009 in order to understand Honduran geographical patterns of freshwater fish distribution, to delineate the Honduran freshwater fishes ichthyographical provinces, and to understand patterns of species assemblage at the drainage level. A total of 166 species of freshwater fishes were sampled, a 64% increase over previously published reports. Eight species belong to primary freshwater families, 47 to secondary, and 111 to peripherals. In order to understand the species-drainages relationships, a presence-absence matrix was built for the 19 major drainages and 55 primary and secondary freshwater fishes.