1. Planning for a new guide on Louisiana’s inland fishes
Henry L. Bart, Jr.
Tulane University Museum of Natural History
Belle Chasse, LA 70037
Frank Pezold
Museum of Natural History, University of Louisiana
Monroe, LA 71209

2. Neil H. Douglas’ (1974) Fishes of Louisiana
First comprehensive book
on freshwater fishes in the
state.
Covered all of the diversity
known at the time.
Included dichotomous keys
and accounts on each of
the species.
Discussed drainage basins
and geology of the state
Not unlike other fish guides of
its time: small, compact, handy
for use in the field.

3. New paradigm in state fish guides

4. Species account in Douglas’ Fishes of Louisiana
Pen and ink
illustration
of species
Distribution
information
Hand-made
Distribution
map
Taxonomic
information
Very little information about biology

5. Species account in Boschung et al.’s Fishes of Alabama
Color illustration
State and overall
distribution
General description
and characteristics
Similar species
Habitat
Biology
Conservation
Systematics

6. Boschung et al.’s Fishes of Alabama
Illustrated keys
showing what
characters used
in couplets look
like on the fish.

7. What do we plan to do about it?
Want to give the people of Louisiana a book that is as massive as these
recent books, has all of the special features, and more…
Recipes?, importance of fish to Louisiana culture?, fishing jokes?
Have to educate people about the rich variety of non-game fishes in the
state.

8. A lot has changed
Douglas (1974) treated 148 species of freshwater and diadromous fishes
Douglas and Jordan (2002) reported 170 species (still limited to freshwater and diadromous fishes)
Our tally includes 219 species: 165 freshwater or diadromous species and 54 marine fishes that spend significant amounts of time in freshwater…

9. Marine invaders Stingray, anchovy, ladyfish, smelt,
3 mullets, 3 sleepers,
5 gobies, 3 jacks,
8 drum, 3 flounders,
mackerel, pipefish,
needlefish, worm eel,
snapper, mojarra

10. Some things lost…
Pearl darter, Percina aurora

11. Some things gained Grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella
Bighead carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix
Black carp Mylopharyngodon piceus
Silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix

12. Fishes of Louisiana’s
Inland Waters
Henry L. Bart Jr. and Frank Pezold

13. Steps in the book building process
Assemble comprehensive database of all fish occurrence records in LA, based on museum holdings (vouchered records) and verifiable records from other sources.
Georeference all occurrence records.
Use occurrence/effort maps to identify areas of the state in need of additional survey to document fish changes. Conduct surveys (photography).
Analyze abundance/occurrence trends for all included species and to produce updated distribution maps.
Update conservation status of rare and protected fishes
Organize task of writing the book: use technology to build keys; recruit authors/experts for species accounts; hire artists.

14. Use technology to simplify map production
                                                               
Used GEOLocate to georeference 7,340 unique
locality strings (23,044 lots) from the ULM collection.
6,576 localities were georeferenced with varying levels
of accuracy (89.4%).
Total time was 1 hour and 52 minutes.
Coordinates need to visualized/corrected.

15. Electronically produced distribution maps
Prior to 1990
1990 to present
We were able to generate these maps based on data in the TUMNH and
ULM fish collections; show areas of the state that need to be resurveyed
to determine current status of fishes.

16. Timetable
We anticipate that the overall project will take 5-10 years to complete.
Intend to publish a number of intermediate reports during this process, including an updated species list, distribution atlas, and various data analysis summaries, to inform the scientific community and general public of our progress.
Website will be established for all products and special education resources.

17. Needs $$$ Time ($$$ = Time) Publisher ( )
Have the expertise and most of the necessary data
$$$
Time
($$$ = Time)
Publisher
( )

18. Thanks for your attention!