THE MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF LARGE, MOBILE FISHES IN NORTH CAROLINA ESTUARIES ...

• Main Author: Kenworthy, Matthew Dylan
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries 2019
• Subjects: Red drum
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17615/94zx-8071; https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/dissertations/x633f514p

Linkages between availability of healthy coastal habitats and sustainability of fish populations has been an important driver of marine ecosystem conservation and restoration efforts. Yet, identifying what exactly constitutes critical habitat remains challenging. Key to identifying the value and function of estuarine habitats in supporting fish production is quantifying spatiotemporal use of target habitats by fishes. However, this is complicated by the fact that fish move over multiple spatiotemporal scales. I explored the movement ecology and habitat selectivity of recreationally important fishes in multiple North Carolina estuaries addressing three major questions: 1) Does the movement behavior of a large predatory fish (red drum) enhance landscape-level connectivity among estuarine saltmarsh complexes? 2) Does a large predatory fish (red drum) express fine-scale habitat selectivity within a saltmarsh complex that can be used to infer critical habitats in estuarine seascapes? And 3) Does the size, nature ...