SEAFWA Journal Volume 2, March 2015

Rice and natural seeds are important foods for waterfowl in rice growing regions such as the Gulf Coast Prairies of Louisiana and Texas. We conducted a study from August-November 2010 and collected 2,250 soil cores in 50 farmed and 50 idle rice fields in the Louisiana Chenier Plain (CP) and Texas Mid-Coast (TMC) to estimate biomass of waste rice and natural seeds. Estimates are necessary to assess carrying capacity for waterfowl in this region by the Gulf Coast Joint Venture. Waste rice abundance was greatest in CP farmed fields that produced a second crop of rice (i.e., ratoon) and were...

Gear catch efficiencies have a large effect on data collected to describe fish populations and communities used by managers to make informed decisions. We measured the retention rate of black crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus) and sunfish (Lepomis spp.) from a seeding experiment composed of 10 haul seines pulled at three lakes. Approximately 50 individuals of each group were marked and placed into closed haul seines, and fish recovery rates were measured. Retention rates ranged between 0.34 and 0.94 for black crappie and 0.38 and 0.89 for sunfish. Akaike's Information Criterion was used to...

In 2005, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission implemented a team approach to guide holistic management of Orange Lake, Florida (5100ha). In 2007, 2010, and 2013, we evaluated the lakewide composition of aquatic plant communities and quantified their habitat benefits for focal fish and wildlife taxa. We found that habitat conditions in Orange Lake varied with changes in water level and all three years exhibited an excess of shrub swamp habitat (400-481 ha) and a shortage of shallow marsh habitat (65-160 ha). Overall habitat value for the group of focal taxa was greatest in...

The most commonly used method to determine the timing of breeding for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is to measure fetuses from deceased animals. However, this method is resource-intensive and can only provide data for limited geographic areas. Numerous studies have reported that deer-vehicle collisions (DVCs) increase during the breeding season due to increased deer movements associated with breeding activity. Based on these observations, we obtained records of DVCs in Georgia from 2005 - 2012 (n=45,811) to determine when peaks in DVCs occurred for each county in Georgia. We...

The mottled duck (Anas fulvigula) naturally occurs in two populations: one in the coastal marsh of the western Gulf of Mexico and another in peninsular Florida. A third, introduced, population occurs on the southern Atlantic coast in South Carolina and Georgia. Most mottled ducks in Georgia occur on Altamaha Wildlife Management Area, McIntosh County. In 2006, we began banding mottled ducks in Georgia using airboats at night and collected banding and recovery data from 2006 through spring 2014. We used Program MARK to estimate survival rates, Seber recovery rates, and Brownie recovery rates...

The Western Gulf Coast population of the mottled duck (Anas fulvigula) is dependent on the Gulf coastal marsh to complete its entire life cycle. Band recovery data can be used to monitor mottled duck populations by estimating annual survival, indexing harvest rate, and assessing movements. Band returns from hunting seasons 1997 - 2013 were used to evaluate factors influencing annual survival, recovery rates, and movements of mottled ducks in Texas and Louisiana. For banding years of 1997 - 2013, 58,349 normal, wild mottled ducks were banded and released in Texas and Louisiana. Since 2002,...

Increasing interest in conservation and management of alligator gar, a species considered at risk of imperilment by the American Fisheries Society, has made it important to ascertain angling effort and harvest for this species. Bowfishing is believed to constitute the majority of the recreational harvest of alligator gar, yet little is known about bow anglers and their fishing practices. To obtain baseline demographic and fishing information from bow anglers in Texas, we distributed surveys to 173 participants at three Trinity River bowfishing tournaments in 2011. We received 15 completed...

Increasingly, new innovative management approaches are being used in small ponds that contain largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) and bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) to increase the quality of largemouth bass fisheries. One approach is to stock additional forage fish. Threadfin shad (Dorosoma petenense) were stocked into two small Alabama ponds (1.9 and 5.3 ha) in 2007, 4 yrs after renovation and restocking with largemouth bass and bluegill (1:15 stocking ratio) to improve largemouth bass relative weight (Wr) and length distributions. Threadfin shad inhabited these two ponds for about 2...

Because wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) are an important game species and turkey hunter numbers are increasing, the need for better information on how turkeys use their environment is critical. With the recent advent of GPS technology suitable for use on wild turkeys, we are now able to collect data on a scale not previously possible. We used backpack style GPS units to detail home range and core area sizes, daily movement distances, and roosting characteristics of male Eastern (M. g. silvestris) and Rio Grande (M. g. intermedia) wild turkeys in Louisiana and Texas. Mean home range size...

North Fork Hughes River, West Virginia, is a native muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) stream and is impounded by North Bend Lake, a 12.4-km long, 123-ha impoundment that serves as an important brood source for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. Muskellunge movement was monitored from 26 March 2010 through 2 January 2014 to monitor seasonal movements and to verify muskellunge migration through the outlet structure of the dam. Twenty-four fish were collected using pulsed DC boat-mounted electrofishing equipment and surgically implanted with acoustic trans- mitters. Six submersible...