Assemblage level monitoring of stream fishes: The relative efficiency of single-pass vs. double-pass electrofishing

The relative efficiency of single-pass electrofishing of longer stream sections vs. double-pass electrofishing of shorter reaches was evaluated in small (<5 m wide) wadable lowland streams in the Lake Balaton basin, Hungary. Two hundred meters long stream sections at 8 sites were divided into ten 20 m long sampling units each. These units were used to estimate the representativeness of species richness, species composition and relative abundance data at each level of sampling effort (single vs. double-pass, and number of sampling units pooled) using rarefaction and similarity-based approaches. Assemblage variables showed strong response to the length of the stream sampled (number of sampling units pooled). However, no differences were found between the single- and double-pass methods at any level of sample size for any assemblage variable. Estimates of species richness and species occurrence distributions required more sampling effort than estimates of species relative abundances, using any evaluation method. If a proxy estimate of sample representativeness cannot be obtained in the field, a minimum sampling of single-pass electrofishing of 100 m long sections may be necessary even in small wadable streams with low level of habitat and assemblage diversity to get a relatively unbiased picture on assemblage characteristics.