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Influence of Turbidity on Fish Distribution, Diet and Foraging Success of Largemouth Bass

Turbidity is an important measurement of water quality, considering it describes water clarity and is an indirect indicator of light transmittance in the water column. Turbidity may impact fish that rely on vision to forage by affecting ability to search for prey. Largemouth bass (LMB; Micropterus salmoides) is a visual predator that may have lower foraging success resulting in reduced growth, reproduction, or survival under conditions of high turbidity. I conducted a field experiment in Wolf Lake, Mississippi to assess impacts of turbidity on diet and distribution and a laboratory experiment with manipulated turbidity levels (0 – 250 NTU) to assess foraging efficiency of LMB. There were no significant relationships between turbidity and diet or distribution in the field study. However, there were significant effects of turbidity on foraging efficiency in laboratory trials. These results indicate that assessing turbidity is important to manage LMB in systems susceptible to high turbidity levels.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:MSSTATE/oai:scholarsjunction.msstate.edu:td-3722
Date01 May 2010
CreatorsHuenemann, Thad William
PublisherScholars Junction
Source SetsMississippi State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceTheses and Dissertations

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