Warmwater and Coldwater Fish in Wetlands and Swamps

MSU Affiliation

Forest and Wildlife Research Center; College of Forest Resources; Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture

Creation Date

2025-09-16

Abstract

The first edition of Standard Methods for Sampling North American Freshwater Fishes (Bonar et al. 2009) did not include a chapter specifically addressing sampling wetlands and swamps. Feedback from fisheries biologists and managers suggested the inclusion of a chapter addressing methods for wetlands and swamps and the opportunities and challenges inherent to sampling these diverse habitats.

Herein, wetlands and swamps (hereafter, “wetlands”) are characterized by periodically or permanently saturated (hydric) soils and water-tolerant (hydrophytic) vegetation that also support fish during at least some portion of the hydrologic cycle. Consequently, this definition captures a wide variety of aquatic systems, including flooded peatlands, bogs, swamps, and floodplains. Recognizing a wetland, as compared to standing water (Chapters 2 and 6), is greatly aided by recalling that wetlands have legal and policy definitions (Canada, Mexico, and the United States) that consider hydrology, soils, and vegetation, which all impact sampling, and many wetlands have been delineated as such. Although not a frequent practice for many fisheries professionals, consulting federal (e.g., U.S. Geologic Survey National Land Cover Database-identified as woody wetlands and emergent herbaceous wetlands cover classes in the database), state/province, or local land cover maps will indicate legally delineated wetlands and other habitats determined to be likely wetlands by remote sensing and soils data. Methods herein also may apply outside of wetlands in open water systems with fluctuating hydrology that promotes wetland-like substrates and wetland vegetation (e.g., shallow reservoirs). In assembling this chapter, wetlands specifically considered were forested river and embayment floodplains and marginal forested wetlands bordering inland lakes (i.e., riparian wetlands), nonforested marginal wetlands bordering inland lakes, coastal (oceanic and Great Lakes) freshwater swamps, southern United States deepwater swamps, and depressional wetlands, although the methods are applicable in other freshwater wetland types.

Publication Date

2024

Publication Title

Standard Methods for Sampling North American Freshwater Fishes (2nd ed.)

Publisher

American Fisheries Society

DOI

https://doi.org/10.47886/9781934874769.ch11

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