Modelling habitat requirement of European fishes: do species have similar responses to local and regional environmental constraints?

To test the hypothesis that different species have similar responses to local and regional environmental constraints, we modelled the occurrences of 13 species using a data set of 413 undisturbed river reaches. Three environmental descriptors were considered at the local scale (river slope, river width, and upstream drainage area) and three at the regional scale (mean annual and mean range air temperature and basin unit). Using multiple logistic regression modelling techniques, we correctly predicted the occurrence of 11 of the 13 retained species. The hierarchical partitioning analysis that we used allowed us to jointly consider all possible models in a multiple regression setting and to evaluate the independent explanatory power of each of our five environmental variables. We reject the hypothesis of a common species response to the environmental constraints. Species inhabiting upstream river reaches (bullhead (Cottus gobio), brown trout (Salmo trutta), minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus), and stone loach (Barba...

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