Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A Caloric-Based Evaluation Of Diet Indices For Largemouth Bass, Kevin Lee Pope, Michael Lee Brown, Walter Gilbert Duffy, Paul Herbert Michaletz

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Selection of methods for quantitative description and assessment of food habits is a concern for trophic investigations. We used diet data for largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides, to compare a caloric-based approach with eight diet indices: percent frequency of occurrence, percent total number, percent total weight, mean relative number, mean relative volume, relative importance index, prey-importance index, and mean stomach fullness. Mean caloric contribution of stomach contents for each prey taxon was used as a standard to compare diet indices. Temporal differences in composition and caloric contents of largemouth bass stomach contents were apparent. Most diet indices provided similar assessments …