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Presented at the NABS Annual meeting, Anchorage, Alaska, 2006
in Disturbance Ecology
An analysis of fish community data for the Leaf River (Mississippi, USA) before and after Hurricane Katrina and Rita
T.J. Hall, J. Ikoma, W.J. Arthurs, R.L. Ragsdale, and C.A. Flinders.National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, Anacortes, Washingtion, US 98221
Leaf River boat electrofishing community data for six stations extending over 50 river km were compared for five pre-Hurricane Katrina/Rita years and a sample immediately following. This interest was based on reports to the state fisheries agency of massive low D.O./debris related fish kills. Post-hurricane fish numbers for all stations were below lowest values for any previous year and were 24.5 to 55.0% of mean numbers. Individual species impacts were less clear with mean species numbers ranging from 14.3 to 20.8 in the pre-hurricane period and 8 to 18 following. Several stations had overlapping species numbers between the post and individual pre-hurricane years. Greatest species number impacts were at tributary stream associated stations possibly an indication of “black water” and organic debris influences. These data indicate that although all sites had reduced fish number impacts some sites were further impacted by reduced species richness. Additional community structure metrics were evaluated and will be reported. Continued annual monitoring will provide an insight into disturbance recovery.
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