The following schedule is from the 72nd Annual Conference of the Southeastern Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies which was held October 21-24, 2018 in Mobile, Alabama.
AUTHORS: Henry Hershey, Dustin McKee, Dennis R. DeVries, Russell A. Wright – School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences, Auburn University
ABSTRACT: Knowledge of fish movement patterns is often required for management in both recreational and aquacultural settings, and telemetry (acoustic and radio) is a powerful technique for quantifying movement. Here we combine biotelemetry with position tracking to inform models of activity costs in the field. We tagged paddlefish Polyodon spatula and largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides in an 8.5-ha impoundment with both a combined acoustic/radio (for movement) and a coded electromyogram (for muscle activity) transmitter and tracked the fish for six months. Behavioral patterns were first quantified using Generalized Additive Models (GAMs) fitted to average hourly muscle activity measurements and average hourly swimming speed. Predicted trends in both data sources were very similar, suggesting a strong correlation. Largemouth bass activity peaked during dawn and dusk, while paddlefish activity peaked at night. These patterns were confirmed by fitting 2-state (low and high activity) Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) to the positional data. The predicted times of low and high activity were consistent between the GAMs and HMMs for both species. Behavioral states were also associated with specific microhabitats in the impoundment. These results and this approach can be applied to numerous other systems where quantifying fish behavior is desired.
