This two-year research project conducted by researchers at mississippi state university proposes to develop a score for dietary overlap between the invasive carp species bighead, black, grass, and…

This two-year $359,167 Project Grant award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Fish and Aquatic Conservation - Aquatic Invasive Species (CFDA 15.608) program supports research by Mississippi State University to develop a scoring system for dietary overlap between invasive carp species (bighead, black, grass, and silver carp) and native game fish species (largemouth bass, white and black crappie, bluegill, white bass, yellow bass, smallmouth bass, and spotted bass) in the Lower Mississippi River alluvial valley and Tennessee-Cumberland River basins. The research will use metabarcoding to analyze water and prey in diet samples, and assess resource limitation through body condition metrics. The goal is to provide data to better manage invasive carp and mitigate their negative impacts on native fish populations and riverine food webs.

This two-year research project conducted by researchers at mississippi state university proposes to develop a score for dietary overlap between the invasive carp species bighead, black, grass, and silver carps and native game fish species largemouth bass, white and black crappie, bluegill, white bass, yellow bass, smallmouth bass and spotted bass. Metabarcoding will also be used to analyze water and prey in diet samples. Scarcity of food resources or resource limitation will be assessed by examining various metrics of body condition. The study will be done on oxbow lakes within the inside the levee or subject to river flooding in the lower MS river alluvial valley and in backwater and mainstem habitats of reservoirs in the tennessee-cumberland river basins. The competition index will use data collected by state fisheries biologists, water samples and plankton collected in year one from various seasons. IT is anticipated that this research will advance the management of invasive carps by more accurately defining the biological risks and negative impacts they pose on riverine food webs, native fishes and fisheries.