Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Dibble, Eric D.

Committee Member

Miranda, Leandro E.

Committee Member

Tietjen, Todd

Date of Degree

5-1-2010

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Wildlife and Fisheries Science

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Forest Resources

Department

Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture

Abstract

Turbidity is an important measurement of water quality, considering it describes water clarity and is an indirect indicator of light transmittance in the water column. Turbidity may impact fish that rely on vision to forage by affecting ability to search for prey. Largemouth bass (LMB; Micropterus salmoides) is a visual predator that may have lower foraging success resulting in reduced growth, reproduction, or survival under conditions of high turbidity. I conducted a field experiment in Wolf Lake, Mississippi to assess impacts of turbidity on diet and distribution and a laboratory experiment with manipulated turbidity levels (0 – 250 NTU) to assess foraging efficiency of LMB. There were no significant relationships between turbidity and diet or distribution in the field study. However, there were significant effects of turbidity on foraging efficiency in laboratory trials. These results indicate that assessing turbidity is important to manage LMB in systems susceptible to high turbidity levels.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/16186

Comments

turbidity||largemouth bass||foraging||Fishes--Behavior--Effect of sediments on.||Fishes--Effect of water quality on.||Largemouth bass.||Largemouth bass--Feeding and feeds.

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