Marine Biology Commons^™

Factors That Affect Distribution Of Two Species Of Killifish In Northeast Florida Marshes, Stacy N. Galleher

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fundulus heteroclitus and the closely related F. grondis are mainly distributed along the Atlantic coast of the U.S from Maine to Northeast Florida and from the East coast of Florida throughout the Gulf of Mexico, respectively. Both are resident salt marsh fishes whose range is thought to overlap in Northeast Florida, making them an ideal study system to examine resource partitioning between two closely related species. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of temperature and elevation on potential habitat partitioning of these two species. It is hypothesized that the northern species, F. heteroclitus, would have a …