Abundance of Leopard Darters in Big Eagle Creek
and West Fork Glover River, Oklahoma

CONRAD S. TOEPFER AND WILLIAM L. FISHER (Oklahoma Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Res. Unit, 404 LSW, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078)

The leopard darter Percina panterina is a threatened species endemic to five streams in southeastern Oklahoma and southwestern Arkansas. Previous one-day depletion samples did not account for daily variability in activity or density differences among areas with varying habitat quality. We used Schnabel multiple mark-recapture sampling and habitat maps generated with remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems technologies to estimate leopard darter abundance in two streams. During float trips, maps of mesohabitat in two streams were created using base maps digitized from aerial photographs, and data from transect sampling were used to classify habitat quality. Mark-recapture sampling sites were proportionally stratified by stream segment and habitat quality. The resulting leopard darter density data and the habitat quality maps were used to extrapolate the abundance estimates to cover unsampled areas and calculate total abundance in each stream. The population estimate for Big Eagle Creek, an area of 0.7 km2, was 38,114 with upper and lower 95% confidence levels of 27,185 and 61,427. The overall density of leopard darters in Big Eagle Creek was 5 darters/100 m2. Transect sampling and mark-recapture estimates will be conducted in the West Fork Glover River during summer 1996.

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