Comparison of an Electric Seine and Prepositioned Area Electrofishers for Sampling Stream Fish Communities

Abstract

We sampled shallow-water habitats (<1.0 m deep) in a small, spring-fed stream in northeast Oklahoma with an electric seine (ES) and prepositioned area electrofishers (PAEs) to compare the efficacy of the two gear types for characterizing stream fish communities. The ES is commonly used for this purpose, while PAEs are most often employed to relate fish distribution to specific microhabitats. We collected 11 fish species, 8 of which were captured by both gear types. Nonparametric extrapolation methods indicated that the ES and the PAEs estimated species richness similarly, although variation and sampling effort necessary to estimate species richness were higher for the PAEs. We used canonical correspondence analyses to determine if the ES and the PAEs sampled fish communities similarly and to evaluate patterns of species distribution relative to environmental variables. The analyses indicated that the ES and the PAEs sampled fish communities similarly. However, species relationships to environmental variables differed between the two methods, probably due to differences in scale of microhabitat measurements. Our results suggest that both methods can be used to characterize fish communities in small streams. Each method has its advantages: the ES appears to sample more efficiently, but PAEs allow for more thorough evaluation of fish microhabitat use.