Tidewater Goby Research

Tidewater Goby

Tidewater gobies live in estuarine habitats in brackish water and are dispersed down the California coast through the breaching of the lagoons they live in. Adult gobies are able to survive many different habitat conditions including fresh water AND salt water which allows them to get swept into the ocean and return into estuary habitats farther down the coast. The Tidewater Goby is an endangered species mostly due to how the eggs and larvae CANT survive in these changing conditions, lagoon breaching's that occur too early wreak havoc upon goby populations, as well as other environmental conditions that are affecting the populations including non-native and native predators.

Tidewater Goby Habitat and Population Assessments

Our research is conducted using seine nets to catch the Tidewater Gobies that we will be assessing at Ormond State Beach and 21 other locations along the California coast, from Los Angeles County to San Luis Obispo County.

We will be focusing on assessing the presence and abundance of the Tidewater Gobies and what environmental conditions are around us at each of the study locations.

Tidewater Goby Capstone Research

My capstone research is focusing on Tidewater Gobies. My team has decided to focus on a habitat and population assessment of multiple sites along the California coast as our research focus. My specific question is if the size of the habitat affects the presence or absence of goby predators and how that may affect the presence and abundance of the gobies themselves. I expect that a smaller lagoon size will be better for Goby populations due to a limit on predator presence and/or abundance. I expect that a smaller lagoon size will be better for Goby populations and due to a limit on predator presence.

Tidewater Goby Research Results and Poster

my results and data showed that Goby population density is shown to decrease i n larger lagoon areas. the predator presence variable was not statistically significant, likely due to a lack of data. We recommend the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service and other organizatilons to continue monitoring and research for restoration planning.

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