Transcript Slide 1
Planning for a new guide on Louisiana’s inland fishes Henry L. Bart, Jr. Tulane University Museum of Natural History Belle Chasse, LA 70037 Frank Pezold Museum of Natural History, University of Louisiana Monroe, LA 71209 Neil H. Douglas’ (1974) Fishes of Louisiana First comprehensive book on freshwater fishes in the state. Covered all of the diversity known at the time. Included dichotomous keys and accounts on each of the species. Discussed drainage basins and geology of the state Not unlike other fish guides of its time: small, compact, handy for use in the field. New paradigm in state fish guides Species account in Douglas’ Fishes of Louisiana Distribution information Taxonomic information Very little information about biology Pen and ink illustration of species Hand-made Distribution map Species account in Boschung et al.’s Fishes of Alabama •Color illustration •State and overall distribution •General description and characteristics •Similar species •Habitat •Biology •Conservation •Systematics Boschung et al.’s Fishes of Alabama Illustrated keys showing what characters used in couplets look like on the fish. What do we plan to do about it? Want to give the people of Louisiana a book that is as massive as these recent books, has all of the special features, and more… Recipes?, importance of fish to Louisiana culture?, fishing jokes? Have to educate people about the rich variety of non-game fishes in the state. A lot has changed • Douglas (1974) treated 148 species of freshwater and diadromous fishes • Douglas and Jordan (2002) reported 170 species (still limited to freshwater and diadromous fishes) • Our tally includes 219 species: 165 freshwater or diadromous species and 54 marine fishes that spend significant amounts of time in freshwater… Marine invaders Stingray, anchovy, ladyfish, smelt, 3 mullets, 3 sleepers, 5 gobies, 3 jacks, 8 drum, 3 flounders, mackerel, pipefish, needlefish, worm eel, snapper, mojarra 20 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 00 98 96 94 92 90 88 86 84 82 80 78 76 74 72 70 68 66 64 62 Some things lost… Pearl darter, Percina aurora 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 Some things gained Grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella Bighead carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix Black carp Mylopharyngodon piceus Silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix Fishes of Louisiana’s Inland Waters Henry L. Bart Jr. and Frank Pezold Steps in the book building process • Assemble comprehensive database of all fish occurrence records in LA, based on museum holdings (vouchered records) and verifiable records from other sources. • Georeference all occurrence records. • Use occurrence/effort maps to identify areas of the state in need of additional survey to document fish changes. Conduct surveys (photography). • Analyze abundance/occurrence trends for all included species and to produce updated distribution maps. • Update conservation status of rare and protected fishes • Organize task of writing the book: use technology to build keys; recruit authors/experts for species accounts; hire artists. Use technology to simplify map production Used GEOLocate to georeference 7,340 unique locality strings (23,044 lots) from the ULM collection. 6,576 localities were georeferenced with varying levels of accuracy (89.4%). Total time was 1 hour and 52 minutes. Coordinates need to visualized/corrected. Electronically produced distribution maps Prior to 1990 1990 to present We were able to generate these maps based on data in the TUMNH and ULM fish collections; show areas of the state that need to be resurveyed to determine current status of fishes. Timetable • We anticipate that the overall project will take 5-10 years to complete. • Intend to publish a number of intermediate reports during this process, including an updated species list, distribution atlas, and various data analysis summaries, to inform the scientific community and general public of our progress. • Website will be established for all products and special education resources. Needs • Have the expertise and most of the necessary data • $$$ • Time ($$$ = Time) • Publisher ( ) Thanks for your attention!