The Ichthyofaunal Diversity of the Rupununi Region can be explained through its connection to the Amazon during times

of significant rainfall. Discuss.

The Rupununi Region is found in the southern or south-western portion of Guyana. This region (Rupununi) located in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo i.e. administrative region nine covers approximately 13000 km squared. It comprises of a river, the Rupununi river as well as a savannah and wetland. The savannah gives rise to flat grassland and mountainous terrains. The later portion of the savannah/ wetland is made up of a rainforest. Bordering the savannah and wetlands are the Rupununi River and the southern Brazilian border. The Kanuku Mountains divides the savannah into a north and south portion. In the south Rupununi Savannah the granitic bedrock is close to the surface. It is visible as inselbergs - summits of the bedrock that dominate the landscape (Frost 1968, Eden 1973). The landscape of the North Rupununi Savannah is gently undulating. Domes and ridges with porous laterite on top are mostly forested, in -between seasonally waterlogged flats with sandy clay are found (Daniel and Hons 1984, Sinha 1968, Eden 1973) The south Rupununi in particular is know for its inhabitation by the native people the Amerindians and secondly, also for its many cattle/ranching activities. One such venture would include the renowned Dadanawa. The North Rupununi covers 22000 hectares of flooded savannah and forests. This portion of the Rupununi extends from Siparuni River to the Kanuku Mountains and from Essequibo River to the Brazilian border. The Rupununi wetland as such is dominated by the Rupununi, Essequibo and Rewa rivers and includes over 750 lakes, ponds and water inlets. The river- Rupununi- originates from the Kanuku Mountains and runs near the Brazilian border and into the Essequibo. While inhabited by the Amerindians not much Human activities occur here due to the flooding of the savannahs This region (Rupununi) is thought to be an extension of a savannah in Brazil- Rio Branco Savannahs- rather than present in Guyana. Phytogeography shows this area more apart of the Amazon than Guyana The Rupununi Savannah is in fact an extension of the larger Rio Branco Savannahs of BrazilPhytogeographically the area belongs to the Amazon Region and not to the Eastern Guyana Province of the Guyana Region, such as the rest of Guyana (Berry et al. 1995,) The Rupununi according to Persaud (1994) experiences one wet and one dry season in contrast to the other parts of Guyana where two wet and two dry seasons are common. The larger portion of rainfall (70-80%) in the Rupununi occurs in the May- August period. During this period the savannah and wetlands are prone to flooding due to some low lying areas and a high volume of surface run off. Rainfall increases towards the south because of the orographic uplift caused by the Acarai Mts. (Persaud 1994). The

drainage system of the Rupununi Savannahs is unable to carry a high volume of surface runoff. As a result most rivers flood in the wet season. In a few places ground water drainage is impeded by clay, and ponds and lakes persist for several months (Hills 1969). The Rupununi region is known for its high biodiversity- both species as well as habitat. It is home to many endangered species such as the harpy eagle and arapaima. It is greatly renowned for its large freshwater diversity, particularly in the wet and flooding season. To date there are over 600 known species with many still to be identified in the Rupununi regions. Some of these species include the pencilfish, arapaima, large characids, peacock bass, freshwater drum and many others. Much of this diversity has been attributed to flooding of the Essequibo and Amazon Basins and breeding in neighboring river and water bodies. . The North Rupununi wetland provides a variety of habitats- 1) white, black and clear water steams,2) foothills and mountain streams,3) dissected river system and 4) ox-bow lake formation

The Amazon River Basin is located in South America and is home to the largest rainforest on Earth. The Amazon River is considered to be the largest river and The Amazon rainforest covers over 1.2 billion acres, of which about 60% is in Brazil, 13% in Peru and some other countries like Venezuela, Colombia, French Guiana, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, and Suriname. It covers 2.5 million squared miles or 30% of South America. It is bounded by the Guiana Highlands to the north and the Brazilian highlands to the south. The Andes Mountains arise out from the east of the Basin. The Amazon River covers a

total length of 6520 km and possesses 15000 tributaries. The Amazon Basin has a mosaic of ecosystems encompassed in a variety of vegetation types. These include rainforests, deciduous forests, seasonal forests, flooded forests as well as savannahs. It has the highest fish diversity in the world. The Amazon Basin boasts more than 2000 species of fish. These fish fall into the following categories- Gymnotiformes, Characidae, Loricariidae, Cichlina and Poeciilinae. Fish which reside in the Amazon Basin includes electric eels, tetra, allies, armored catfish, cichlids, guppies, piranhas, pirarucu, tambaqui and many others. The thesis says that ichthyofaunal diversity of the Rupununi region can be explained through its connection to the Amazon during time of significant rainfall. This connection is formed from the drainage patterns of the Rupununi River, the Amazon basin as well as other rivers stream, lakes etc that connect the two together or connect to the two. This is seen when the Rupununi floods, it connects with the Takutu by the flooded Pirara Creek, dranking the vast swamps of Parima or Amaku lake.Physiological and physical factors closely tie freshwater fishes to drainage patterns. Historical separations of, and associations between, drainage systems thereby contributed to the present day distributions of many species on the Shield and the richness of that fauna...(Gibbs & Barron 1993) The Guiana Shield and the only year-round continuity, some degree of seasonal connectivity occurs between the upper reaches of the Rio Branco and the southern most portions of the Essequibo River in the Rupununi Savannas of southwestern Guyana. That region is an expansive floodplain where the headwaters of the Rupununi River (Essequibo basin) and the Takutu and Ireng rivers (both components of the Rio Branco of the Amazon River basin) come into close proximity. This proximity and varying degree of continuity of the headwaters of these rivers across a vast flooded plan during high water periods [Lowe (McConnell) 1964, Watkins et al. 2005] facilitate movement of at least some fish species between the headwaters of the Rio Branco and Essequibo River basins. Although such movements potentially enrich the ichthyofaunas of each of those river systems, they do not add to the overall richness of the fish fauna of the shield. Another factor influencing this connection would be the relationship between migrating Neotropical fishes and seasonality. During the wet season because of the gradient of the land of the savannahs and forests the water bodies that form the drainage network between the Amazon Basin and the Rupununi regions swell as a result of over the bank flooding. During the wet season (flooding season) the Rupununi shares a watershed with the Amazon. Water shed is basically a basin-like land form that carries water from land to channels such as soil, ground water, creeks and streams. These then travel to larger bodies of water. These expansions of the water bodies give rise to a wider variety of habitat and food for fishes. The way a species of fish allocates their energy is also a determining factor on whether they migrate or not and if so how far and at what cost.Fishes migrate to escape predation, to look for food, for excretion and deposition and importantly to deposit gametes. For fishes that migrate, reproductive and feeding periods arise in productive floodplains

during high water or flooding periods. In tropical river systems, massive reproductive migrations crossing hundreds of kilometers are driven by wet-dry seasonality, with reproduction of migratory fishes usually occurring during the high-water period in productive floodplains or flooded forests (Goulding 1980; Lowe-McConnell 1987).Tropical fishes have adapted and show a preference to reproducing during flooding season as it provides a resource rich flood plain for juveniles (Goulding 1980; LoweMcConnell 1987). Tropical fishes reveal diverse morphological and physiological adaptations to wetdry seasonality, most notably reproductive seasons that coincide with rising water levels that allow juveniles to feed in resource rich floodplains. When flood waters begin to recede after flooding large predators must forge for food as it is fast becoming a limited commodity. Prey fishes tend to flee often expanded river, ponds, etc territory and end up in a totally different territory. During floodwater recession, fishes are forced from the shallow refuges of the floodplain and prey densities increase in shrinking aquatic habitats. Large bodied predators in tropical floodplain systems generally exhibit increased foraging activity during the falling and low-water periods as prey are forced into deeper creeks, lagoons and the main river channel (Jepsen et al. 1997; Arrington et al. 2002; Hoeinghaus et al. 2003b; Arrington et al. 2006). Significant rainfall in the Amazon and the Rupununi region give rise to greater ecosystems of fish life through the generation of floodplains. These in turn create a wider habitat and resources that attract fish hence larger diversity. Reference Lowe (McConnell), R. H. 1964. The fishes of the Rupununi savanna district of British Guiana, South America. Part 1. Ecological groupings of fish species and effects of the seasonal cycle on the fish.Journal of the Linnean Society (Zoology) 45(304):103140. Lowe-McConnell, R. H. 1995. Ecological studies in tropical fish communities. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 382pp. Gibbs, A. K., & C. N. Barron. 1993. The geology of the Guiana Shield. Oxford University Press, New York. 246 pp. Arrington, D.A. & Winemiller, K.O. 2003. Diel changeover in sandbank fish assemblages in a Neotropical floodplain river. Journal of Fish Biology 63: 118. Arrington, D.A., Winemiller, K.O., Loftus, W.F. & Akin, S. 2002. How often do fishes run on empty? Ecology 83: 21452151. Arrington, D.A., Winemiller, K.O. & Layman, C.A. 2005. Community assembly at the patch scale in a species richtropical river. Oecologia 144: 157167.