Aaron J Bunch

Clemson University | CU · Forestry and Environmental Conservation

A fundamental aspect of fisheries science is measuring body length. Humans are inherently prone to error despite systems and provisions made to reduce it. We evaluated length measurement error (herein, referred to as “error”) and digit preference from fish studies conducted on the Colorado River and Little Colorado River in Arizona. Empirical error...

Predation on early life stages of Atlantic Sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus (ATS) may be a constraint to species recovery. Due to the difficulty in assessing consumption of early life stages with traditional diet analysis methods, we pursued an alternative DNA-based approach. We extracted total gut content from gastrointestinal tracts of 23...

Coastal rivers and estuaries provide habitat and migratory corridors for freshwater estuarine-opportunists. We evaluated movement patterns of 61 blue catfish Ictalurus furcatus in the tidal York and Rappahannock rivers in Virginia, USA with acoustic telemetry from July 2015 to June 2016. To evaluate river-specific movements, we utilized a multistat...

Blue Catfish Ictalurus furcatus are an invasive, yet economically important species in the Chesapeake Bay. However, their impact on the trophic ecology of this system is not well understood. In order to provide in‐depth analysis of predation by Blue Catfish, we identified prey items using high‐throughput DNA sequencing (HTS) of entire gastrointesti...

Significant declines in Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrhynchus oxyrhynchus) abundances along the US east coast have spurred major research efforts and management actions over the last 50 years, yet information on spawning stock abundances and habitat use is still lacking for many river systems, including in the Chesapeake Bay, USA. Here, we devel...

Enhancements to acoustic telemetry technology now allow for tracking aquatic animal movements at multiple spatial and temporal scales. While large acoustic arrays allow for broad-scale tracking of movement and migrations at scales of thousands of km across multiple years, more focused smaller arrays offer the potential to quantify fine-scale moveme...

Stock assessment modeling provides a means to estimate the population dynamics of invasive fishes and may do so despite data limitations. Blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) were introduced to the Chesapeake Bay watershed to support recreational fisheries but also consume species of conservation need and economic importance. To assess management trad...

Inclusion can happen now—in an instant—with genuine positive communication directed at someone who has a different identity than you. A person feeling included really comes down to an individual having a sense of belonging and value within a group of people. Over the past year as hosts of the Fisheries Diversity and Inclusion Podcast have interview...

Coastal rivers and estuaries provide habitat and migratory corridors for freshwater estuarine-opportunists. We evaluated movement patterns of 61 blue catfish Ictalurus furcatus in the tidal York and Rappahannock rivers in Virginia, USA with acoustic telemetry from July 2015 to June 2016. To evaluate river-specific movements, we utilized a multistat...

Natural resources such as waterbodies, public parks, and wildlife refuges attract people from varying distances on the landscape, creating “social‐ecological catchments”. Catchments have provided great utility for understanding physical and social relationships within specific disciplines. Yet, catchments are rarely used across disciplines, such as...

Biological invasions occur as a multi-stage process and life history traits can change during the invasion process. Blue Catfish Ictalurus furcatus were introduced in three Virginia tidal tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay in the 1970s and 1980s, but have expanded their range to almost all large tributaries of the Bay. Understanding the species’ gro...

Dredging is considered a major threat/impedance to anadromous fish migrating to spawning habitat. Due to the perceived threat caused by dredging, environmental windows that restrict dredge operations are enforced within many rivers along the east coast. However, it is generally unknown how anadromous fish react to encountering an active dredge duri...

Evaluation and monitoring of stocking effectiveness is essential to make informed fisheries management decisions. Chemical marking such as oxytetracycline (OTC) is often used for differentiation of stocked from wild fish but has inherent error in mark longevity and otolith evaluation. Genetic analysis of recaptures provides a viable alternative. F1...

In temperate waters, growth and mortality of bony fishes is frequently estimated from age information derived from examination of annular rings on hard structures (e.g., otoliths). However, determining ages from hard structures can be time consuming, often requires sacrificing fish, and has associated costs for supplies and time of personnel proces...

Blue catfish ( Ictalurus furcatus ) have been widely introduced throughout the United States and are invasive in Chesapeake Bay. Despite this proliferation, little is known about the diet of this large, predatory catfish. We used stratified random sampling to collect stomachs from 14,488 blue catfish in Chesapeake Bay. Canonical correspondence anal...

Invasive species are a major threat to biodiversity of native fishes in North America. In Atlantic coastal rivers of the United States, large catfishes introduced from the Gulf of Mexico drainages have become established and contributed to native species declines. Flathead Catfish Pylodictis olivaris were introduced to the Chesapeake Bay drainage i...

Concern among stakeholders following the establishment of Northern Snakehead Channa argus in the Chesapeake Bay region is driven by uncertainty surrounding impacts to ecologically and economically important native and naturalized fish and wildlife species and the overall high risk of establishment to other regions of the USA. A centralized statewid...

Native to the central U.S., Flathead Catfish Pylodictus olivaris have invaded Atlantic rivers from Florida to Pennsylvania. They are now invasive in several subestuaries of the Chesapeake Bay, yet contemporary accounts of their distribution do not exist. Due to their piscivorous nature, Flathead Catfish could have deleterious impacts on native icht...

Ictalurus furcatus (Blue Catfish) provide trophy recreational fishing opportunities in Virginia's tidal rivers; however, potential ecological impacts are of concern. We used mark-recapture techniques and electrofishing in 2007 and 2014 to estimate Blue Catfish density and biomass in Powell Creek. A 66% decline in fish density occurred between 2007...

In the 1970s and 1980s, blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) were introduced to the tidal rivers of Virginia. High abundances and uncertainty about population characteristics of blue catfish generated concern for economically important and imperiled species. We estimated natural mortality and size structure for four tidal river systems (i.e. James, Ma...

Quantifying spatial variability in fish growth and identifying large-scale drivers of growth is fundamental to many conservation and management decisions. Although fish growth studies often focus on a single population, it is becoming increasingly clear that large-scale studies are likely needed for addressing transboundary management needs. This i...

Native to the central USA, the Blue Catfish Ictalurus furcatus and the Flathead Catfish Pylodictis olivaris have been widely introduced into many Atlantic slope rivers and are now found in several drainages of the Chesapeake Bay. Fisheries managers are concerned that these large, long-lived catfish species may be contributing to observed declines i...

Coastal rivers can support quality largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) fishing, but recruitment failure and habitat availability can influence population size and structure because of the dynamic nature of these systems. Stocking success in coastal river systems has been rarely evaluated. This study examined stocking success of oxytetracycline...

Altered flow regimes in lakes can change macrophyte habitats from dynamic, species-rich communities to dense, monotypic communities that can change the physicochemical environment available to fish. We tested whether fish community composition, fish density, fish species richness, and fish species diversity changed across a range of dissolved oxyge...

The White Bass Morone chrysops is a popular sport fish that appears to be negatively affected by invasions of White Perch M. americana and often declines or disappears from invaded systems. In 2008, the first discovery of White Perch in Lake James, North Carolina, provided a rare opportunity to investigate trophic overlap between White Perch and a...

The Grand Canyon long-term fish monitoring program was designed to determine annual trends in catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE; fish/hr) and distribution of Colorado River fishes vulnerable to electrofishing in order for managers to evaluate experiments and policies. Electrofishing transects (N=952) were randomly selected throughout the river between Le...

Grand Canyon fish community status and trends 2000-2009.

To successfully establish in new systems, invasive species must pass through several invasion stages, and life history traits that facilitate successful transitions may change as the species advances through each stage. Demographic data for species at each stage can be pivotal to understanding and predicting invasions and their effects. White perch...

Many aquatic systems worldwide have experienced significant changes in littoral macrophyte communities from altered hydrology in the form of water controls structures (e.g., dams). Water level stabilization for flood control can cause persistent occurrence of dense stands of emergent macrophytes, which can affect the physicochemical environment for...

South Florida lakes (i.e., Tohopekaliga, Kissimmee, Istokpoga, and Okeechobee) have experienced significant changes in littoral habitat since the onset of water level regulation. One of the major changes in habitat has been the persistence in the abundance of dense emergent plants and plant mats (i.e., tussocks), which can affect the physicochemica...