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The Blackmouth Shiner (Notropis melanostomus) is a small North American cyprinid that is listed as a Species of Concern due its relatively small range, occurring at only a few sites in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Due to limited data and the small number of actual samples of N. melanostomus, the true characteristics of viable habitat and distribution remain unknown. The objective of my research was to utilize remote sensing data to gain a better understanding of the habitat characteristics where the N. melanostomus has been collected and use this information to identify other areas were populations are likely to occur during future sampling efforts. In particular, Landsat data were used to map the spatial and temporal extent of water inundation over a 20-year time-series within floodplain water bodies surrounding the Pascagoula River to determine the effects on the presence or absence of Blackmouth Shiners at historic collection sites. These characteristics could be used to inform future site selections within the Pascagoula River drainage as well as identify other river systems that have similar inundation patterns and morphology within and proximal to the known range.

Twenty-two natural populations of the red shiner minnow, Notropis lutrensis were examined for morphological and genetic variation. This research was aimed at testing the hypothesis that morphological and genetic variation was primarily influenced by the degree of gene flow between populations. Ten linear measurements were taken from each of 1320 specimens. Morphological characters were adjusted for differential growth by least squares linear regression techniques. Genetic variability was estimated for each individual red shiner through the methods of starch gel electrophoresis. Twenty presumtive gene loci were resolved.