Centrarchid assemblages in oxbow lakes of the Mississippi Alluvial Valley with perspectives for fisheries management

Surrounding land-use and in-lake data were collected to determine environmental variables influential in structuring centrarchid assemblages in oxbow lakes of the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) and to suggest environmental manipulation strategies that may improve the fisheries of these systems. I sampled 53 oxbow lakes using boat electrofishing and land-use data were summarized using ArcView GIS. Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling separated centrarchids according to water quality tolerance. Centrarchid composition was related to land-use, water clarity, maximum depth, connectivity, primary productivity, and physicochemistry as determined by Canonical Analysis of Principal Coordinates. Canonical Correspondence Analysis rejected the null hypothesis of no relationship between land-use and centrarchid proportional composition. Environmental variables were related significantly to centrarchid composition. Based on these data, a general fisheries management plan for oxbow lakes of the MAV was proposed.