Fish and environmental variable data in mountain streams of the Ren River

The spatial-temporal patterns of fish assemblages in lotic systems can provide useful information in developing effective conservation measures. This study aimed to explore the spatial and seasonal changes in fish assemblages and their association with environmental factors in mountain streams of the Ren River, south-west China. Field investigations were conducted at 18 sites during the rainy and dry seasons in 2017. A total of 1330 individuals, belonging to three orders, eight families, 19 genera and 21 species, were collected. Analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) showed that the structure of fish assemblages varied significantly at the spatial scale, but not at the seasonal scale. In low order sites, fish assemblages were mainly dominated by cold water and rheophilic species (e.g. Rhynchocypris oxycephalus, Scaphesthes macrolepis, Metahomaloptera omeiensis and Gnathopogon herzensteini), while those in high order sites were predominated by warm water and eurytopic or stagnophilic species (e.g. Squalidus argentatus, Hemiculter leucisculus and Zacco platypus). Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that the fish assemblages were structured by a combination of large-scale landscape factors (e.g. altitude and C-link) and small-scale habitat features (e.g. channel width, water temperature and depth). Among these factors, landscape had the greatest influence on fish assemblages, while local habitat variables were less important or were only significant in certain seasons. 

Methods
The dataset was collected at 18 sites during the rainy and dry seasons in 2017 in mountain streams of the Ren River, south-west China, and has been processed by a series of Analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) and Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) to produce a MS accepted for publicated in Ecology and Evolution.