Thesis Successfully Defended!

I have completed my research and successfully defended my thesis!  I will be graduating in December with my M.N.S. in Biology.

Thesis: 2013 Field Season

The 2013 field season is coming to a close, as is my education.  In five months I will graduate with an M.S. in Biology.  I don't think I truly comprehend this yet!

Lark sparrows have finished nesting for the summer.  Although the number of nests was much lower this summer (5), the nesting success was much higher.  I was able to band ten birds, and on two occasions I was able to observe the nests from eggs to successful fledging.

In addition to these nests, I also conducted vegetation surveys for a large number of randomly selected square meter plots, fifty in all.  Because botany is not my area of expertise, identification of certain unknown specimens (particularly Poeaceae) has proven to be quite an adventure.  Fortunately I have assistance from my advisor and Dr. Bornstein at Southeast as well as a past collection of specimens from Sand Prairie Conservation Area.

Field Season 2013

The 2013 field season has commenced.  Lark sparrows returned on April 17 and as of now, there are at least six pairs of birds at Sand Prairie Conservation Area.  I located one nest thus far and will be sampling the microhabitat this Friday.  I will also begin my random sampling this Friday.

The Offseason

I am in the process of bolstering my knowledge of statistics in order to write a better thesis.  I won't be engaging in actual research until April, when the sparrows return.  In the meantime I am also about to obtain audio software from Cornell with which to analyze lark sparrow songs.  I'm hoping that my recordings from last summer are clear enough to provide me with solid analysis.

That's it for now, and probably for a while.

List of Species in Cape LaCroix Creek

Here is a list of the species found in Cape LaCroix Creek this fall.  I will have an official report finished by Friday.

Topminnows (Fundulus) were the most abundant species.  Although I captured and released individuals without prominent black spots, all of my specimens were F. olivaceus.  Therefore I can only with certainty that the blackspotted topminnow is found in the creek.  Further downstream I have seen gar (Lepisosteus) and silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) neither of which were present in my study area.  A different assemblage of fish is likely found in the deeper, lower gradient portions of the creek.  However, depth and an uneven bottom rendered sieving impractical here.  Other methods of sampling would be necessary to determine the fish fauna of the entire creek.

Cyprinidae
Semotilus atromaculatus  creek chub
Notropis boops  bigeye shiner
Lythrurus umbratilus  redfin shiner
Luxilus chrysocephalus  striped shiner
Pimephales notatus  bluntnose minnow
Campostoma oligolepis  common stoneroller

Centrarchidae
Micropterus salmoides  largemouth bass
Micropterus punctulatus  spotted bass
Lepomis macrochirus  bluegill
Lepomis megalotis   longear sunfish (pictured)

Fundulidae
Fundulus olivaceous  blackspotted topminnow

Atherinidae
Labidesthes sicculus  brook silverside

Poecilidae
Gambusia affinis  mosquitofish 

Percidae
Etheostoma spectabile  orangethroat darter

New updates coming soon

It's been quite a while since I've updated this blog.  Finals week has arrived and as soon as I finish both of my exams on Tuesday, I will identifying the fish I captured in Cape LaCroix Creek.  Details will be soon to follow.

Second Day of Seining

Almost exactly one month after my first day of seining I went out a second time to collect and identify the fish species in Cape LaCroix Creek.  The water was cooler but this time I had chest waders so it wasn't a problem.  Between my own research and ichthyology field trips, I can resoundingly pronounce them a worthwhile investment.

Andrew and I seined from seven in the morning until around ten o'clock.  Initially my plan was to count the number of seines and divide by the total number of individuals of each species.  This would give me the number of individuals per seine and would help to determine the overall abundance of each fish species.  However, there was at least one major flaw in this methodology.  When we seined and saw a large fish (or fishes) swim into the net, we immediately pulled it up.  This would count as one seine but we didn't cover the same length of stream as the standard seines.  Thus, the results would be skewed because each trial would not be the same.

With this in mind I have decided to focus my research on the composition of species in Cape LaCroix Creek, with abundance tentatively determined.  Although I counted the number of individuals for each species this time, I did not do so on last month's trip, so the exact abundance of each species will be largely speculative.  There is also an obvious bias in using mesh seines, as very small fish can slip through the netting and faster fish can out-swim (or outsmart) the net as well.  Considering these two things I will avoid any statistical attempt to determine the abundance of fish in the creek.  However, I see nothing wrong with unofficially estimating abundance based on observation (and in today's case, total number of individuals).

I may or may not seine one more time, but the most difficult aspect of this research remains to be done.  Identification of the cyprinids is incredibly meticulous and keying them out is going to take some time.  This would present another difficulty in determining abundance.  Since my permit only allows me to capture fifty specimens, I had to release most of the fishes that I captured.  Minnow identification in the field is very difficult (especially for someone with very little experience), so I may well have released some specimens that would have been different species.

Since I am in ichthyology and identification of Missouri fishes is a class requirement, I am waiting to key my research specimens until I gain some experience in class.  Therefore I will probably begin identification come November.  The specimens will have to wait in formalin until then.  There are a few species I can already identify with confidence, though.  Longear sunfish (Lepomis megalotis) is very common in the stream, much more so than the bluegill (L. macrochirus).  Among the Macrochirus basses, the spotted bass (M. punctulatus) looked to be much more common than the largemouth (M. salmoides).  Identification was based on jaw size and tail color (in juveniles), although positive ID will be made in the lab.  Topminnows (Fundulus; pictured) were abundant, for certain blackspotted (F. olivaceus) and likely blackstripe (F. notatus).  Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) were especially common under beds of Ludwigia and other emergent vegetation.  Brook silversides (Labidesthes sicculus) were present but not abundant.  There was also a species of shiner, two Etheostoma darters, a likely bluntnose minnow (Pimephales notatus), stonerollers (Campostoma spp.), and several unknown cyprinids.  Positive identification will take place in the lab.