Use of Artificial Substrates to Estimate Prey Resources available to a Visually Feeding Benthivorous Fish

Empirically derived estimates of prey resources using conventional sampling methods are generally poor indices of actual food available to visually feeding benthivorous fish. We preferentially sampled the most active fraction of the benthos (presumably that most detectable by fish) utilizing short-term (4 d) colonization of artificial substrates, and used colonist biomass to explain temporal variation in stomach contents of bluegill sunfish …