sustainability Article Fish Communities, Habitat Use, and Human Pressures in the Upper Volta Basin, Burkina Faso, West Africa Paul Meulenbroek 1,* , Sebastian Stranzl 2, Adama Oueda 3, Jan Sendzimir 1,4,5, Komandan Mano 3, Idrissa Kabore 3, Raymond Ouedraogo 6 and Andreas Melcher 5,* 1 WAU Department of Water, Atmosphere and Environment, IHG Institute of Hydrobiology and Aquatic Ecosystem Management, BOKU—University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Gregor Mendel Strasse 33, 1180 Vienna, Austria;
[email protected] 2 Laboratory for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, NORCE Norwegian Research Center, Nygårdsgaten 112, 5008 Bergen, Norway;
[email protected] 3 Laboratoire de Biologie et Ecologie Animales, UFR/SVT, Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo, 03 BP 7021 Ouagadougou 03, Burkina Faso;
[email protected] (A.O.);
[email protected] (K.M.);
[email protected] (I.K.) 4 IIASA—International Institute of Applied System Analyses, Schlossplatz 1, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria 5 CDR Centre for Development Research, BOKU—University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Dänenstrasse 4, 1190 Vienna, Austria 6 Département Environnement et Forêts, Institut de l’Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 04 BP 8645 Ouagadougou 04, Burkina Faso;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] (P.M.);
[email protected] (A.M.) Received: 26 August 2019; Accepted: 26 September 2019; Published: 1 October 2019 Abstract: Human pressures and loss of natural fish habitats led to a decline in fish populations in terms of abundances, biodiversity, and average size in sub-Sahelian Burkina Faso. Little knowledge exists about fish assemblages regarding their composition, their habitat preferences, or their sensitivity to or tolerance of human pressures.