Freshwaters are important, interconnected, and imperiled. Aquatic ecosystems, including freshwater fishes, are closely tied to the terrestrial ecosystems they are embedded within, yet available spatially explicit datasets have been underutilized to determine associations between freshwater fishes and forested areas. Here, we determined the spatial co-occurrence between freshwater fish distributions and forests within 2129 watersheds of the conterminous United States. We identified 21% of freshwater fishes as associated with forested areas, and 2% as strictly present only in highly forested areas (75–100% forested). The northern coasts and southeast regions, both heavily forested, showed the largest numbers of forest-associated fishes in highly forested areas and fish species richness. Fish associated with low-forested areas occurred in the southwest and central plains. Imperiled fishes were relatively evenly distributed among percent forest categories, which was distinctly different from patterns for all fishes. The identification of forest-associated fishes provides insights regarding species-specific landscape contexts. Determining these large-scale patterns of freshwater biodiversity is necessary for conservation planning at regional levels, especially in highly impacted freshwater ecosystems.

中文翻译：

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美国本土的森林相关鱼类

淡水是重要的、相互关联的和危险的。包括淡水鱼类在内的水生生态系统与其所在的陆地生态系统密切相关，但可用的空间明确数据集尚未充分利用来确定淡水鱼类与森林地区之间的关联。在这里，我们确定了美国本土 2129 个流域内淡水鱼类分布和森林之间的空间共存。我们确定 21% 的淡水鱼类与森林地区有关，2% 的淡水鱼仅存在于高度森林地区（75-100% 森林）。北部海岸和东南部地区都是森林茂密的地区，在高度森林化的地区和鱼类物种丰富度中，森林相关鱼类的数量最多。与低森林地区有关的鱼类出现在西南和中部平原。濒危鱼类在百分比森林类别中分布相对均匀，这与所有鱼类的模式明显不同。森林相关鱼类的鉴定提供了有关特定物种景观背景的见解。确定这些大规模的淡水生物多样性模式对于区域层面的保护规划是必要的，尤其是在受到严重影响的淡水生态系统中。