<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Aquatic Conserv: Mar Freshw Ecosyst. </span><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif">2021;1–15</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif">DOI:
10.1002/aqc.3567</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Harnessing the potential for otolith microchemistry to foster the
conservation of Amazonian fishes</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Theodore W. Hermann1 | Fabrice Duponchelle2,3 | Leandro Castello4 |
Karin E. Limburg1 | Luciana A. Pereira4 | Marília Hauser3,5,6</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif">1 Department of Environmental and Forest Biology,
College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York,
Syracuse, New York, USA 2 Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD),
MARBEC (Univ. Montpellier, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD), Montpellier, France 3 Laboratoire
Mixte International, Evolution et Domestication de l'Ichtyofaune Amazonienne
(LMI-EDIA), IIAP, UAGRM, IRD, Montpellier, France 4 Department of Fish &
Wildlife Conservation, College of Natural Resources and Environment, Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA 5
Laboratório de Ictiologia e Pesca, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas,
Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR), Porto Velho, Brazil 6 Programa de
Pós-graduaç~ao da Rede de Biodiversidade e Biotecnologia da Amazônia Legal,
Porto Velho, Brazil </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Abstract </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif">1. Freshwater environments host roughly half of the
world’s fish diversity, much of which is concentrated in large, tropical river
systems such as the Amazon. Fishes are critical to ecosystem functioning in the
Amazon River basin but face increasing human threats. The basic biology of
these species, and particularly migratory behaviour, remains poorly studied, in
part owing to the difficulty associated with conducting tagging studies in
remote tropical regions. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif">2. Otolith microchemistry can circumvent logistical
issues and is an increasingly important tool for studying fish life histories.
However, this approach is still new in the Amazon, and its potential and
limitations to inform fish conservation strategies remain unclear. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif">3. Here, otolith microchemistry studies in the Amazon
are reviewed, highlighting current possibilities, and several key factors that
limit its use as a conservation tool in the Amazon are discussed. These include
the dearth of spatiotemporal elemental data, poor understanding of
environment–fish–otolith pathways, and insufficient funding, facilities, and
equipment. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif">4. A research initiative is proposed to harness the
potential of this technique to support conservation in the Amazon. Key aspects
of the proposal include recommendations for internal and external funding,
which are critical to acquiring and maintaining technical staff, cutting-edge
equipment, and facilities, as well as fostering regular scientific meetings and
working groups. Meetings can facilitate a systematic approach to investigating
environment–otolith pathways, broadening the chemical baseline for most
Amazonian tributaries, and exploring potential valuable elements. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif">5. These outcomes are urgently needed to conserve
biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in the Amazon, especially given threats
such as widespread hydroelectric damming. The initiative proposed here could
make otolith microchemistry an important, cost-effective tool to inform and foster
conservation in the Amazon, and act as a template for other imperilled tropical
river basins, such as the Mekong and the Congo. </span></p></div><div id="DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"><br> <table style="border-top:1px solid #d3d4de">
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