Email: ggeorg1@lsu.edu
Work:
383 life sciences
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
225.578.1740
Home:
225.761.8535
My research involves monitoring the movements and population dynamics of black drum (Pogonias cromis), a large estuarine and marine fish, on oyster reefs in Southern Louisiana. The scientific name for black drum comes from the Greek words pogonias meaning "bearded" and cromis "to grunt". Black drum are bearded in that they use chin barbels to feel for mollusks and other benthic food items. These fish are equipped with special pharyngeal grinding plates used to crush the hard shells of mollusks. Black drum are also vocal fish, they use sound to communicate with conspecifics and as a warning when distressed. Previous LSU Black Drum Projects have looked at the general feeding ecology of the fish as well as possible deterrents for keeping the fish off of commercial oyster leases where they are known to severely damage oyster yield due to predation. Previous projects investigated the use of scent from conspecifics, sound (recordings of fish sounds and synthetic sounds), and physical removal of fish from oyster leases by several fishing methods. Preliminary results show that black drum can be successfully removed from oyster leases, leading to a significant increase in oyster survival, although this varies seasonally. Thus drum exhibit some top down control on Louisiana oyster leases. We are currently assessing the diet composition of black drum caught on oyster reefs to see if indeed they are a major consumer of oysters and at what size they become a threat oysters. With this dietary information combined with the catch results we can make recommendations about what gear type is most efficient at removing the targeted size range of fish with the least amount of bycatch.
The goal of my master’s thesis is to get population estimates of fish on oyster leases temporally and seasonally using traditional mark-recapture methods, as well as track the movement of individual fish using acoustical tags. Thus, a lagrangian and eularian approach will be used. It is not known whether black drum exhibit site fidelity to oyster reefs similar to tuna and snapper on offshore structures, or how long residence time is while feeding on the oyster reef. With the help of the research team, I will be surgically implanting transmitters into mature black drum and using a radio acoustic positioning system as well as submersible single channel receivers to track the movements of fish. My research takes place in Barataria Bay, a large estuarine body of water to the west of the current Mississippi delta. Barataria Bay hosts extremely productive shrimp and oyster fisheries.
Other interests of mine include fish community ecology, fish life histories, lizard life histories and ontogenic changes, biogeography, conservation, using GIS with ecological applications, and ecological restoration of waterways.
