Research Training Program Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History PROJECT SUMMARY 1998
Deokie Arjoon University of Guyana Turkeyen, Guyana Dr Vicki Funk Supervising Scientist Department of Botany "It has been an incredible and rewarding educational experience."

A GIS Analysis Of The Fishes Of Guyana

ABSTRACT

Guyana is a biologically diverse country on the eastern coast of South America located just west of Venezuela. Very little is known about the fish fauna of Guyana. This project was an effort to search for, consolidate, and organize all of the museum collections' information on the fishes of Guyana.The first step was to evaluate the only published treatment which is The freshwater fishes of British Guiana including a study of the ecological grouping of species, and the relation of the fauna of the plateau to that of the lowlands by Dr. C. H. Eigenmann who collected fish from Guyana in 1908. The second step of the project was gathering data from the National Museum of Natural History and all other museums that have fish collections from Guyana. Some data are available in usable form on the internet, but most data were acquired by contacting museum ichthyology departments and collaborating with their database operators. The various data formats were standardized and merged into a single computer database for analysis. Georeferencing of the collections localities were carried out using gazetteers and topography sheets of Guyana. The data were then imported into the GIS (Geographic Information System) program ArcInfo, and maps were produced using ArcView showing species distribution and collection intensity in various areas. All fish names were checked for changes using Catalog of Fishes by Eschemyer (1998). As a result of this project, the first modern list of species of fishes found in Guyana has been established. The species list, together with geographic collections information, should be a valuable tool for management, establishment of the country's first protected areas system, and the planning for future ichthyological expeditions.

This research was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Biological Diversity of the Guianas Program.

Letter of Gratitude