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Relationships Among Fish Assemblages, Hydroperiods Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2011 Relationships among fish assemblages, hydroperiods, drought, and American alligators within palustrine wetlands of the Blackjack Peninsula, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Texas Darrin M. Welchert West Virginia University Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Welchert, Darrin M., "Relationships among fish assemblages, hydroperiods, drought, and American alligators within palustrine wetlands of the Blackjack Peninsula, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Texas" (2011). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 3328. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/3328 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you must obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in WVU Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports collection by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Relationships among fish assemblages, hydroperiods, drought, and American alligators within palustrine wetlands of the Blackjack Peninsula, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Texas Darrin M. Welchert Thesis submitted to the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Design at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Wildlife and Fisheries Resources Stuart A. Welsh, Ph.D., Chair Patricia Mazik, Ph.D. Chad Stinson, M.S. Division of Forestry and Natural Resources Morgantown, WV 2011 Keywords: palustrine, wetlands, fish assemblage, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Texas, American alligator Abstract Relationships among fish assemblages, hydroperiods, drought, and American alligators within palustrine wetlands of the Blackjack Peninsula, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Texas Darrin M. Welchert The following thesis contains two chapters. In Chapter 1, I have reviewed and summarized literature pertaining to fishes and habitats of palustrine wetlands, the influence of hydroperiods on wetland fishes, the impacts of drought on wetland fishes, the importance of American alligators as ecological engineers of fish habitats within wetlands, and fish sampling within wetland habitats. Chapter 2 is a manuscript representing my thesis research. In this study, primary focus is placed on how fish diversity and how fish abundances of palustrine wetlands are influenced by drought conditions within the Blackjack Peninsula of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Texas. Seasonal hydroperiods and drought are natural disturbances that influence fish assemblages within subtropical palustrine wetlands. Few studies, however, have focused on the impacts of drought on fishes of freshwater wetlands, in part, because of the unpredictability and infrequent occurrences of drought conditions within wetland habitats. We analyzed the distribution, diversity, and abundances of fishes in relation to habitat characteristics during two wet/dry hydroperiod cycles within 77 palustrine wetland sites. During our study, below-average rainfall within two seasonal periods provided an opportunity to examine the effects of drought on the diversity and abundances of fishes and fish-habitat relationships. We captured 3,590 fishes representing 19 species and 10 families. The responses of fish diversity and total fish abundance to drought conditions were largely driven by six common species; western mosquitofish, warmouth, black bullhead, green sunfish, bluegill, and golden topminnow. Wetland volume, maximum water depth, salinity, and dissolved oxygen changed seasonally and across pre- drought, drought, and post-drought conditions, thereby influencing species diversity and species abundances. During the drought, fishes were restricted to reduced habitats which consisted primarily of deeper areas within constructed wetlands, and holes or dens of American alligators. Our data demonstrated that drought conditions greatly reduce species diversity and species abundance on the Blackjack Peninsula of southwestern Texas. Long-term studies, however, are needed to examine recovery of habitat and fish assemblage structure. Dedication To my father, David J. Welchert who instilled a fondness for the outdoors at an early age by introducing me to both woods and water. He is my inspiration for getting into the wildlife field. Respect what you have and work is only what you make of it. You will never be forgotten. iv Acknowledgements Thank you to Dr. Stuart Welsh for his assistance, guidance and statistical help. Dr. Patricia Mazik and Chad Stinson for their help on this thesis and various other support along the way. Thank you to Dr. Alan Temple and Dr. Joseph Witt of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Conservation Training Center for supporting the cooperative graduate program with West Virginia University and guidance during classes. Funding for this project was provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Thank you to Dr. Lee Fuiman of the University of Texas Marine Science Institute for assistance in species verification and Alex Benavides, Katherine Cullen, Jeremy Edwardson, Jordan Harrison, Whitney Moore, Greg Otterstein, and Bill Wilson for assistance in sampling sites and data entry. Most importantly, I thank my family for their push and patience during my thesis work and during my relentless pursuit of anything fisheries or wildlife related. v Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………ii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………....iv Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………...v List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………..vii List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………….vii Supplemental Materials…………………………………………………………………..vii Chapter 1: Literature Review………………………………………………………………1 Literature Cited…………………………………………………………………...12 Chapter 2: Effects of drought on freshwater fishes within palustrine wetlands of the Blackjack Peninsula, southwestern Texas…………………………………………………………....21 Abstract…………………………………………………………………………...21 Introduction………………………………………………………………………22 Study Site…………………………………………………………………………24 Materials and Methods……………………………………………………………26 Results…………………………………………………………………………….29 Discussion…………………………………………………………………………32 Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………….36 References…………………………………………………………………………37 vi List of Tables Table 1. Wetland habitat characteristics for four seasonal sampling periods……………...46 Table 2. Total number of fish and species collected using all three sampling methods…...47 Table 3. Species diversity, total abundance, and abundances of six common species…….48 Table 4. Results of QAICc for fish diversity and total fish abundance…..……………….49 Table 5. Results of QAICc for abundance data of six common fishes……………………50 List of Figures Figure 1. Locations of palustrine wetland study sites on ANWR, Texas………………….42 Figure 2. Sampling frequency of natural and constructed wetlands………………..……..43 Figure 3. Monthly precipitation amounts from 2008 - 2010 from ANWR………………44 Figure 4. Total counts of alligators and alligator dens at wetland sites……………………45 Supplemental Material Figure S1. Collection site for alligator gar Atractosteus spatula………………………….51 Figure S2. Collection sites for spotted gar Lepisosteus oculatus …………………………52 Figure S3. Collection sites for American eel Anguilla rostrata……………………………53 Figure S4. Collection sites for black bullhead Ameiurus melas…………………………...54 Figure S5. Collection sites for yellow bullhead Ameiurus natalis…………………………55 Figure S6. Collection sites for striped mullet Mugil cephalus.……………………………56 Figure S7. Collection sites for inland silverside Menidia beryllina.………………………57 Figure S8. Collection sites for golden topminnow Fundulus chrysotus…………………..58 Figure S9. Collection sites for blackstripe topminnow Fundulus notatus.………………..59 Figure S10. Collection site for bayou killifish Fundulus pulvereus………………………60 Figure S11. Collection sites for western mosquitofish Gambusia affinis.………………..61 vii Figure S12. Collection sites for sailfin molly Poecilia latipinna…………………………62 Figure S13. Collection site for sheepshead minnow Cyprinodon variegatus…………….63 Figure S14. Collection sites for green sunfish Lepomis cyanellus.………………………64 Figure S15. Collection sites for warmouth Lepomis gulosus..……………………………65 Figure S16. Collection sites for bluegill Lepomis macrochirus………………………….66 Figure S17. Collection sites for bantum sunfish Lepomis symmetricus.…………………67 Figure S18. Collection site for largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides..………………68 Figure S19. Collection sites for fat sleeper Dormitator maculatus……………………..69 viii Chapter 1: Literature Review Freshwater is one of our most important natural resources. Approximately 97.5% of the planet’s 1.4 billion cubic kilometers of water is ocean, and a mere 2.5% of the global total is freshwater (Stiassny 1996). Approximately 113,000 km3 of water is deposited on the world’s land masses each year, and of this some 72,000 km3 evaporates, leaving close to 41,000 km3 to replenish all the rivers and lakes, and to recharge aquifers and wetlands (Stiassny
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