Fish communities and habitat preferences: a case study from Northeastern Italy, useful data for habitat modelling

Freshwater ecosystems are among the most threatened environments, and inhabiting native fish fauna is very sensitive to anthropogenic impacts. However, there is a lack of information about ecological preferences of many fish species (Negro et al., 2021) and their life history stages, and therefore more studies and field research are needed to avoid unproper actions and management mistakes. The present study was carried out in the Chiarò Creek, placed in the Italian Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia in the context of a project funded by the Italian Basin Authority of the Eastern Alps, with the aim to apply the hydrological/hydromorphological quality index MesoHABSIM in significant water bodies for the proper application of ecological fluxes measurements. The aim of the project was to collect data about ecological preferences for target species for which information are still lacking in literature. In this work we report the case study of the Chiarò Creek, with particular regard for the species Alburnus arborella, Barbus plebejus, Padogobius bonelli, Lampetra zanandreai, Protochondrostoma genei and Squalius squalus .