Small streams are important components of the landscape in terra firme forests in central Amazonia and harbor a large number of fish species. Nevertheless, the lack of a common sampling protocol in studies of this ichthyofauna hinders comparisons among available results. This study evaluates how the length of stream reach sampled affects estimates of local fish species density in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd order streams, and proposes a mean minimum sampling length that best approximates the absolute number of species in a given stream segment. We sampled three streams in the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project's study sites, between May and August 2004. At each stream, one 1st order, one 2nd order, and one 3rd order segment was sampled. We sampled five... |