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Movement, Habitat Use, Reproduction, And Commercial Harvest Of Paddlefish In Lake Dardanelle, Arkansas, Adam Geik

Theses and Dissertations from 2016

Paddlefish Polyodon spathula are a valuable commercial species throughout much of their range including Lake Dardanelle, one of the most important commercial paddlefish fisheries in Arkansas. While fecundity, mortality, and age and growth of paddlefish stocks in Lake Dardanelle have been assessed previously, information on their movements, habitat utilization, and commercial harvest rates is lacking. To help fill this information gap, 39 paddlefish were tracked a minimum of once per month from October 2014 through September 2015. Habitat selection was determined for eight macrohabitat types and four bathymetric habitat types by comparing percent usage to percent availability. Four high-use (≥10%) …