Monitoring Populations of Fish and Macroinvertebrates in Florida Bay By Richard E. Matheson, Jr., Kerry E. Flaherty, and Robert H. McMichael, Jr. Fisheries Independent Monitoring Fish and Wildlife Research Institute Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Funded by a grant from the National Park Service (EVER-00272 )
Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project (CERP) plans
Overall Project Objectives To conduct fisheries-independent surveys designed to support environmental impact assessments by refining statistical models of nekton habitat use To evaluate seasonal patterns of distribution and abundance of nekton in estuarine and marine habitats in Florida Bay
Field Sampling Methods Stratified-random sampling design by basin Seasonal (April, June, August, October) Water quality and habitat variables Samples per basin (11 total): 4 offshore 21.3-m seines (6/06) 2 shoreline 21.3-m seines (8/06) 2 6.1-m otter trawls (8/06) 3 183-m haul seines (10/06)
Average salinity by Basin and Month 50 Dry Wet Dry Wet Salinity (ppt) 40 30 20 10 Joe Bay (13) Long Sound (7) Little Madeira Bay (14) Little Blackwater Sound (8) Madeira Bay (24) Nest Keys Basin (12) Crocodile Dragover (23) No Name (Eagle Key, 15) Duck Key Basin (47) Blackwater Sound (9) Butternut Keys Basin (46) 35 ppt =SD >10 ppt 0 Jun-06 Aug-06 Oct-06 Apr-07 Jun-07 Aug-07 Oct-07 Sampling Event =SD 7-9 ppt =SD < 6 ppt
Community structure by basin Data were analyzed by gear using standard PRIMER methods Fourth-root transformed CPUE averaged over gear, season (dry vs. wet), and basin Ordination using non-metric multidimensional scaling (MDS) Spatial differences were tested with analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) analogous to ANOVA CLUSTER analysis to determine similarity between points (used 60% similarity ellipses) Species contributing to observed differences identified with the similarity percentages (SIMPER) routine
21.3-m shoreline seines ANOSIM results: Basin (R=0.219, p=0.001), Season (R=0.252, p=0.001) Dry Season Higher Variation in Salinity Wet Season Lower Variation in Salinity SIMPER for basin Joe Bay (13) M. gulosus 7 8 23 23 9 24 14 47 14 24 12 8 12 7 47 9 46 15 2D Stress: 0.13 A. mitchilli F. carpio 46 No name (15), Butternut Keys Basin (46) F. carpio 13 Eucinostomus spp. A. stipes 13 15
21.3-m shoreline seines Wet Season % CPUE (animals/100 m 2 ) Species Abundance Occur. Mean Stderr Anchoa mitchilli = 34.5 71.46 35.98 Floridichthys carpio 86.2 54.72 10.96 Eucinostomus spp. 77.9 24.12 5.38 Atherinomorus stipes 23.4 17.95 5.69 Harengula jaguana 9.7 8.68 4.73 Lucania parva = 43.4 7.93 2.06 Eucinostomus gula 49.7 7.58 1.31 Microgobius gulosus 60.7 4.58 0.67 Menidia spp. = 13.8 3.01 1.32 Opisthonema oglinum 11.7 1.65 1.17
21.3-m offshore seines ANOSIM results: Basin (R=0.257, p=0.001), Season (R=0.195, p=0.001) Dry Season Higher Variation in Salinity Wet Season Lower Variation in Salinity SIMPER for basin Joe Bay (13) M. gulosus F. carpio 7 8 14 14 7 8 24 23 23 24 12 15 47 12 47 2D Stress: 0.12 46 9 9 46 Blackwater Sound (9) A. mitchilli 13 13 15
21.3-m offshore seines Wet Season % CPUE (animals/100 m 2 ) Species Abundance Occur. Mean Stderr Floridichthys carpio 83.7 40.75 3.70 Eucinostomus spp. 61.5 11.79 1.48 Microgobius gulosus 71.4 11.46 1.26 Lucania parva 49.3 10.65 1.80 Anchoa mitchilli 20.4 5.46 2.80 Eucinostomus gula 49.3 3.57 0.40 Atherinomorus stipes N/A 2.0 1.86 1.20 Syngnathus scovelli 46.6 1.05 0.11 Jenkinsia stolifera N/A 0.3 0.90 0.90 Harengula jaguana N/A 2.3 0.73 0.42 Both deployments showed a decrease in Hippocampus zosterae during the wet season.
6.1-m otter trawls ANOSIM results: Basin (R=0.327, p=0.001), Season (R=0.233, p=0.001) Dry Season Higher Variation in Salinity Wet Season Lower Variation in Salinity 2D Stress: 0.13 47 46 SIMPER for basin Joe Bay (13) M. gulosus F. carpio Blackwater Sound (9) C. ornatus 13 13 24 23 14 14 7 87 8 12 12 24 23 15 15 47 46 9 9 E. gula F. duorarum
6.1-m otter trawls Wet season % CPUE (animals/100 m2) Species Abundance Occur. Mean Stderr Floridichthys carpio 66.3 6.06 0.98 Eucinostomus spp. 61.3 3.97 0.81 Eucinostomus gula 72.5 2.21 0.27 Lucania parva 46.9 1.30 0.33 Syngnathus scovelli = 66.3 0.71 0.12 Microgobius gulosus 59.4 0.36 0.05 Hippocampus zosterae 46.9 0.23 0.03 Farfantepenaeus duorarum 33.1 0.21 0.07 Opsanus beta 45.6 0.20 0.04 Anchoa mitchilli 14.4 0.18 0.06 Argopecten spp. and Callinectes sapidus
183-m haul seines ANOSIM results: Basin (R=0.249, p=0.001), Season (R=0.076, p=0.018) Dry Season Wet Season Higher Variation in Salinity Lower Variation in Salinity 23 2D Stress: 0.16 SIMPER for basin Little Madeira Bay (14) C. hippos C. undecimalis S. barracuda Crocodile Dragover (23) L. rhomboides Blackwater Sound (9) C. ornatus 14 14 12 7 8 24 24 8 7 23 12 15 47 15 47 46 9 46 9
183-m haul seines Wet Season % CPUE (animals/set) Species Abundance Occur. Mean Stderr Eucinostomus gula 63.5 12.90 2.67 Sphyraena barracuda 80.8 10.86 1.96 Lagodon rhomboides 32.9 7.11 3.04 Gerres cinereus 57.5 3.86 0.75 Eugerres plumieri 10.8 3.01 1.43 Lutjanus griseus = 53.9 2.40 0.34 Callinectes sapidus 38.9 1.46 0.27 Haemulon sciurus N/A 6.0 1.08 0.82 Callinectes ornatus 18.0 0.96 0.37 Caranx hippos 31.1 0.95 0.16 Centropomus undecimalis
Conclusions Northeast Florida Bay is not a typical estuarine nursery area Transient species of direct economic value Abundant resident species that provide the forage base Changes in community structure are associated with salinity regimes within and between basins Useful baseline of community structure for before and after CERP implementation Changes in freshwater inflow that alter salinity regimes may influence community structure
Future Research Linking community structure to habitat variables (% coverage by banks, bottom vegetation, etc.) Use monitoring data to track single species distributions and abundances Expansion to west-central basins More extensive seagrass characterization at monitoring sites
Acknowledgements Everglades National Park William Perry Tracy Ziegler David Hallac P.J. Walker NPS rangers (Key Largo) Derke Snodgrass FWC-FIM staff, especially Sean Fisk and Greg Onorato Funding source: National Park Service, Study # EVER-00272
Questions?