University of Florida Thesis Or Dissertation

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University of Florida Thesis Or Dissertation IMPACTS OF A NON-NATIVE PISCIVORE, THE PIKE KILLIFISH, ON JUVENILE COMMON SNOOK By GEOFFREY HENRY SMITH JR. A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2019 © 2019 Geoffrey Henry Smith Jr. To my loving and understanding wife, Amanda, who not only helped me trudge through the mud to collect fish, but also put up with me throughout this sometimes-stressful process and provided thoughtful conversation, moral support, and much needed breaks from all the work. I couldn’t have done it without you. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my dissertation committee members including Daryl Parkyn, Jeff Hill, Colette St. Mary, Ed Matheson, Ron Taylor, and especially my advisor Debra Murie for all their advice, encouragement, and thoughtful discussions on snook biology, non-native species, and aquatic ecology throughout my doctoral studies. I would like to thank Marin Greenwood for all of his knowledge and preliminary investigations on Pike Killifish in the estuarine waters of Tampa Bay. I would like to thank Chuck Cichra for the use of his boat and seine nets for my field work, the FWRI Marine Fisheries Independent Monitoring Program for the use of a hand-held coded-wire detector, and the UF Tropical Aquaculture lab for occasional use of vehicles, storage of samples, and on-site lodging. Field work for this study would not have been possible without the assistance of my wife and fellow doctoral student, Amanda Croteau. I would also like to thank the PADI Foundation (Grant #6379), the UF Graduate School Award awarded through the Program of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences and School of Forest Resources and Conservation, Steven Berkeley Marine Conservation Fellowship, Guy Harvey Scholarship from Florida Sea Grant, and the Longboat Key Garden Club Scholarship who all provided funding to make this study possible. Collection of organisms from the field was conducted under FWC SAL 12-1400-A; sampling within Terra Ceia Preserve State Park was conducted under FDEP Florida Park Service Research/Collection Permit 04011324; and sampling within Cockroach Bay Preserve was conducted under a Hillsborough County Letter of Authorization. All field and lab studies were conducted under appropriate protocols including UF IFAS Non-regulatory Animal Research Protocol 006-12FAS and UF IACUC Protocol 201207451. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 7 LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... 9 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 15 2 PREDATION OF JUVENILE COMMON SNOOK BY PIKE KILLIFISH ................... 37 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 37 Methods .................................................................................................................. 39 Predation Trials ................................................................................................ 39 Fish Collection for Diet Analysis ....................................................................... 43 Stomach Content Analysis ............................................................................... 45 Results .................................................................................................................... 45 Predation Trials ................................................................................................ 45 Pike Killifish Attacks on Prey ...................................................................... 46 Pike Killifish Consumption of Prey ............................................................. 48 Stomach Content Analysis ............................................................................... 50 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 51 3 DIET ANALYSIS AND POTENTIAL FOOD RESOURCE COMPETITION BETWEEN EARLY-JUVENILE COMMON SNOOK AND PIKE KILLIFISH ............ 68 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 68 Methods .................................................................................................................. 71 Fish Collection for Diet Analysis ....................................................................... 71 Collection of Prey for Abundance Estimates .................................................... 73 Diet Analysis ..................................................................................................... 74 Prey Abundance ............................................................................................... 80 Results .................................................................................................................... 81 Prey Regression Curves................................................................................... 81 Early-juvenile Common Snook Diet Analysis .................................................... 82 Pike Killifish Diet Analysis ................................................................................. 85 Dietary Overlap ................................................................................................ 86 Prey Abundance ............................................................................................... 87 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 88 5 4 POTENTIAL INTERFERENCE COMPETITION AND SPACE RESOURCE COMPETITION BETWEEN PIKE KILLIFISH AND EARLY-JUVENILE COMMON SNOOK ............................................................................................... 141 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 141 Methods ................................................................................................................ 143 Results .................................................................................................................. 145 Discussion ............................................................................................................ 147 5 POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF Non-Native PIKE KILLIFISH ON EARLY-JUVENILE COMMON SNOOK ABUNDANCE, GROWTH, AND CONDITION ....................... 163 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 163 Methods ................................................................................................................ 165 Assessment of Growth Impacts ...................................................................... 165 Assessment of Abundance and Condition Impacts ........................................ 168 Modelling Theoretical Impacts ........................................................................ 170 Results .................................................................................................................. 172 Growth Impacts .............................................................................................. 172 Abundance Impacts ........................................................................................ 173 Condition Impacts ........................................................................................... 175 Theoretical Impacts ........................................................................................ 175 Discussion ............................................................................................................ 176 6 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 196 APPENDIX: R CODE FOR POPULATION MODEL .................................................... 201 LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 202 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................... 216 6 LIST OF TABLES Table page 1-1 History of Common Snook regulations in Florida ................................................ 33 2-1 Comparison of logistic regression curves for Pike Killifish attacks on and consumption of different prey types based on size. ............................................ 58 2-2 Comparison of Pike Killifish 48 h attacks on different prey species in 20 mm TL size bins.. ...................................................................................................... 59 2-3 Comparison of Pike Killifish 48 h consumption of different prey species in 20 mm TL size bins ................................................................................................. 60 2-4 Comparison of Pike Killifish 48 h ratio consumption to attack rates of different prey species in 20 mm TL size bins .................................................................... 61 3-1 Regression equations for various fish and invertebrate prey species
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