Species richness of trophic guilds increases with discharge and decreases with variability in tropical river fish communities

Species Area Relationships (SARs) are one of the most well-established conservation biogeography patterns, and in rivers habitat area is mediated by discharge. Species richness and river discharge have a well-established positive relationship, but how discharge affects trophic diversity is less clear. Free-flowing tropical river ecosystems are hotspots of global biodiversity, but they are under increasing threat from water resource developments which alter river discharge regimes. Here we investigate relationships between river discharge metrics and the species richness of freshwater fish trophic guilds in tropical rivers of northern Australia, using data collated from 40 catchments. We analysed relationships between the species richness of freshwater fish trophic guilds and discharge metrics including mean annual discharge (Q), mean daily dry and wet season discharge and the coefficient of variation (CVQ) of Q. Invertivores and omnivores were the most species rich trophic guilds. Our r..., , # Data from: Species richness of trophic guilds increases with discharge and decreases with variability in tropical river fish communities

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.zkh1893nr](10.5061/dryad.zkh1893nr)

## Description of the data and file structure

The data includes Catchments, Basins (GOC = Gulf of Carpentaria, TTS = Timor Sea, NEC = North East Coast) Trophic guild (HD = Herbivore/detritivore, OM = Omnivore, IN = Invertivore and PR = Predator) and species richness of reach trophic guild, Max discharge (MaxQ), mean annual discharge ML/d (Q), CV of daily flow (CVQ), mean daily wet season discharge (wet) and mean daily dry season discharge (dry). n_year is the number of years for records at that gauging station. Total richness for each trophic guild was calculated for each basin.

### Files and variables

#### File: Trophic_Richnes_Flow_data_40_Dryad.xlsx

**Description:** Trophic_Richnes_Flow_data_40_Dryad.xlsx worksheet contains the data containing the total species richness and tr...,