Key findings
- Diets were reconstructed for 21 black crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus), 70 bowfin (Amia calva), 22 chain pickerel (Esox niger), 235 Florida gar (Lepisosteus platyrhincus), 258 largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), and 46 warmouth (Lepomis gulosus) collected from enhanced and non-enhanced portions of the Kissimmee River.
- Prey eaten by large, predatory fishes in the enhanced portion of the Kissimmee River were quantitatively and qualitatively different from prey eaten in non-enhanced portions of the river.
- Predators in the enhanced portion of the river had fewer empty stomachs, more prey items per individual, more prey types per individual, more fish prey, greater overall diversity of prey, and a multivariate suite of prey distinct from predators in non-enhanced portions of the river.
- Results from hydrologic manipulations suggest that large-scale restoration of hydrologic linkages between the main channel and floodplain habitats will positively affect food web structure and ecosystem function in the Kissimmee River.
- Preliminary analyses suggested that amphibians and reptiles may be a significant portion of the diet of large, predatory fishes in the Kissimmee River. However, analysis of all of our samples indicated that amphibians and reptiles are not an important part of the piscine food web in the channelized Kissimmee River.
- Eighty percent of fishes that preyed upon herpetofauna were collected from non-enhanced portions of the river, which may reflect lower abundance of preferred prey in these disturbed habitats.
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