A Review Of Small Fish Movement And Personality Behavior To And From Ephemeral Wetlands Of The Florida Everglades

Abstract

Everglades freshwater fish communities are increasingly under threat from anthropogenic pressures, particularly alteration to the hydrological regime (e.g. drainage ditches that lower water tables or culverts that direct agricultural or urban runoff into the site). The ecological consequences of altered hydrology for ephemeral wetland ecosystems include declining fish abundance and diversity, food web connectivity, microhabitat availability for reproduction, refuge, and migration. Understanding how individual behaviors and personality of freshwater fish in ephemeral wetlands scale up to population and landscape-level processes is critical to develop the best management and conservation strategies for preserving fish biomass in freshwater ecosystems. Therefore, in this thesis, I review the studies focused on fish movement behavior and personality in wetlands to aid resource managers in developing evidence-based conservation strategies, to develop parameterized models of animal migration across landscapes, and to improve our understanding of metacommunities.