Survival of Florida Largemouth Bass in a Coastal Refuge Habitat across Years of Varying Drying Severity

Abstract

In aquatic systems, refuge habitats increase resistance to drying events and maintain populations in disturbed environments. However, reduced water availability and altered flow regimes threaten the function of these habitats. We conducted a capture-mark-recapture study, integrating angler citizen science. Our objectives were to quantify variation in survival of Florida Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides floridanus in a coastal refuge habitat across seasonal hydrological periods and over 4 years of varying drying severity and to determine the contribution of angler sampling to improving capture probabilities. Apparent survival of Florida Largemouth Bass in the coastal Everglades was highest in wet and drying periods and lowest in dry and reflooding periods. Interannual survival was closely tied to the length of upstream marsh drying, with the lowest observed survival (0.21) during a drought year. The inclusion of angler sampling improved recapture probabilities, suggesting that angler data can supplement standardized electrofishing sampling. Findings show that during short drying events Florida Largemouth Bass survival can be relatively high, with implications for Everglades restoration. Understanding the ability of refuge habitats to buffer populations from drying disturbance is a key component for conservation and restoration, particularly under climate change scenarios.

Recreational Angler Contributions to Fisheries Management Are Varied and Valuable: Case Studies from South Florida

“…Between 2010 and 2014, a capture–mark–recapture study was conducted in ENP to estimate Florida Largemouth Bass survival in relation to hydrologic variability (Pierce et al. 2021). Fish were sampled using boat‐based electrofishing methods (Rehage and Loftus 2007; Boucek and Rehage 2013) and were implanted with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags with unique codes to identify individuals (Gibbons and Andrews 2004).…”

“…However, targeting specific subgroups of anglers (e.g., highly specialized anglers, fishing clubs) can increase catch reporting and provide valuable data to researchers and fisheries managers (Page et al 2021). To investigate the utility of citizen science in supplementing data collection, Pierce et al (2021) solicited the help of experienced anglers to gather recapture data for Florida Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides floridanus .…”

Fisheries Volume 47 Number 11 November 2022

“…Between 2010 and 2014, a capture-mark-recapture study was conducted in ENP to estimate Florida Largemouth Bass survival in relation to hydrologic variability (Pierce et al 2021 ). Fish were sampled using boat-based electrofi shing methods (Rehage and Loftus 2007 ;Boucek and Rehage 2013 ) and were implanted with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags with unique codes to identify individuals (Gibbons and Andrews 2004 ).…”

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Evaluating Native and Invasive Fish Connectivity and Spatial Ecology in Canada’s Historic Rideau Canal Waterway

“…In addition, we did not conduct standardized recapture sampling and instead relied on anglers to report 602 catches, which also likely contributed to lower recapture rates (note that mark-recapture methods 603 generally suffer low recapture probabilities; Lees et al 2021). Angler recapture (and report) rate in our 604 study (6%) was the same as Keplinger (2021) (6% for channel catfish [Ictalurus punctatus] in the South 605 Branch Potomac River, West Virginia, USA) but higher than Pierce et al (2021) (2% for largemouth bass 606 in the upper Shark River estuary, Florida, USA). Few other studies have used mark-recapture to monitor 607 passages across navigation locks, however our percentage (<1%) of mark-recapture fish that crossed 608 barriers was lower than Klinge (1994)…”