Southern Research Station

Title: Using Snorkeling to Quantify Fish Assemblage Structure in Arkansas Streams

Author: Lonzarich, David G.; Lonzarich, Mary E.; Warren, Melvin L., Jr.

Date: 2004

Source: Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-74. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. pp. 253-256

Description: Abstract - As a technique for surveying fish populations in low diversity, clear streams of the Pacific Northwest, snorkeling is a commonly used alternative to electrofishing. While the method is becoming more widely used in the high diversity streams of eastern North America, its efficacy as a tool for surveying fish assemblages in these streams is not known. In this study, we compared results from snorkeling and electrofishing surveys obtained from two clear, warmwater streams of the Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas. Surveying only water column species, we found that fish assemblage structure and species density estimates obtained by the two methods were statistically indistinguishable. These results have important implications for ecologists studying warmwater streams as snorkeling holds many advantages over invasive sampling methods, such as seining and electrofishing.

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Citation

Lonzarich, David G.; Lonzarich, Mary E.; Warren, Melvin L., Jr.  2004.  Using Snorkeling to Quantify Fish Assemblage Structure in Arkansas Streams.   Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-74. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. pp. 253-256