Who pays the price of progress: Gulf sturgeon habitat utilization and residency in Choctawhatchee Bay, FL?

Choctawhatchee Bay serves as important foraging habitat for Gulf sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi) during periods of estuarine residence.  Such habitats are critical to Gulf sturgeon, as they depend exclusively upon them for growth.  In recent years, the Choctawhatchee watershed has undergone significant anthropogenic landscape-level changes concurrent with dramatic rises in human population.  Associated habitat transitions from rural/forested to urban/suburban, coupled with apprehension over climate change, has lead to management concerns regarding modifications in water quality and degradation of benthic communities.  Forty adult and juvenile Gulf sturgeon were captured in the Choctawhatchee River and outfitted with acoustic transmitters in 2009.  Monitoring is being conducted through active and passive telemetry to examine size-specific patterns of residency and habitat use.  The majority of telemetered adults were documented entering the Gulf of Mexico and Santa Rosa Sound in November and December, while almost all juveniles appear to have overwintered in the Bay.  Telemetered Gulf sturgeon were distributed nonrandomly within Choctawhatchee Bay with most relocations in nearshore areas 2-4m deep.  Findings are compared with existing data to assess alterations in estuarine habitat use resulting from landscape-level changes.    This study provides managers with quantitative estimates of habitat change and resulting impacts on Gulf sturgeon behavioral ecology.