Figure 49. 

 bottomland 

 leaves, an 

 been found 



The crop contents of 

 Food iteins include 

 d fruits of hackberry, supplejack, and poison 

 in turkey crops. Photo by Brooke Meanley. 



a wild turkey killed in April in the Arkansas River 

 snails, scarabeid beetles, pecans, jack-in-the-pulpit 



ivy. In Florida, crayfish have 



floodplain (Germany) fish yield was 14.6 

 kg/ha (13 lb/acre) with a 20-day inunda- 

 tion, increasing to 49.2 kg/ha (44 lb/ 

 acre) with a 198-day inundation, with the 

 delayed effects recognizable a year later 

 (Stankovic and Jankovic 1971). 



The use of the floodplain by fishes 

 in a blackwater creek (Creeping Swamp, 

 Pitt County, NC) was studied by Walker 

 (1980) by use of two-way weir traps in 

 shallow drainways on the floodplain (Zone 

 II) (Figure 50). With the exception of 

 the redfin pickerel, fish moved on the 

 floodplain only at night. Most fish were 

 caught in January through March, the time 

 of maximum inundation, although large 

 fluctuations occurred at other times in 

 these small streams (watershed approxi- 

 mately 80 km2 or 31 mi 2). Common species 

 (in order of abundance on the floodplain) 

 were pirate perch, redfin pickerel, flier, 

 mud sunfish, eastern mud minnow, American 

 eel, banded sunfish, creek chubsucker, 

 blue-spotted sunfish, redear sunfish 

 (shellcracker), bowfin, shiner, brown 

 bullhead, pumpkinseed, bluegill, golden 

 shiner, warmouth, redbreast sunfish, swamp 

 darter, and green sunfish. Included in 

 the catch of the floodplain weirs were 928 



adult crayfish ( Procambarus acutus and 

 Fallicambarus uhleri ), both floodplain 

 varieties. 



Fish trapped on the Creeping Swamp 

 floodplain feed on floodplain inverte- 

 brates, principally copepods, ostracods, 

 amphipods, isopods and midge fly larvae 

 ( Chironomidae ) (Robert Sniffen, Institute 

 of Marine and Coastal Research, East Caro- 

 lina University, Greenville, NC; personal 

 communication). Delicate forms such as 

 oligochaete worms and flatworms ( Planaria ) 

 disintegrate rapidly and leave few or no 

 fragments; hence their con- 

 fish diet may be underesti- 

 Woodall et al. (1975) and 

 (1976) on the Luxapalila 

 River (MS, AL) found a preponderance of 

 "terrestrial" invertebrates in stomachs of 

 fish collected on the floodplain. 



Holder et al. (1970) compared the 

 fish populations of inundated floodplains 

 (Zone II) and sloughs of the Suwannee 

 River. While the standing crop over the 

 floodplain averaged much less (11-17 kg/ha 

 or 10-15 lb/acre during the 3- to 10- 

 month inundation period) compared to that 

 of the sloughs (262 kg/ha or 234 lb/acre), 



93 



identifiable 

 tribution to 

 mated. Both 

 Arner et al . 



