323
 very dry years. If the size of local predator fish

 populations affects the availability of prey fish to Wood

 Storks, then, prior to man's manipulations of the water

 patterns of south Florida, the availability of fish for

 Wood Storks should have been greater in upland ponds than

 in lowland ponds, and the best conditions in upland ponds

 should have existed in the wetter years. Following the

 water pattern changes, lowland ponds must have been the

 only ponds capable of providing fish for Wood Storks, and

 feeding conditions in these ponds would be optimal in the

 drier years. Wood Storks should find particularly good

 feeding conditions in lowland ponds in the year immediately

 following a severe drought, particularly if a sufficient

 dry-down occurs.



 Comparison of Fish and Crayfish Production

 Measured annual net production of small forage fish in

Corkscrew marsh during the wet season of 1974 was

approximately 0.42 g dry wt/sq-m. This is low compared to

the productivity of a Texas estuary (15.4 g dry wt/sq-m;

Hellier, 1960), a New England salt marsh (6.7 g dry wt/sq-

m; Nixon and Oviatt, 1973), or a Florida lake shore marsh

(6.04 g dry wt/sq-m; Wegener et al., 1973). Although the

annual accumulation of fish biomass measured at Corkscrew

marsh was relatively low, the energy flow through the fish

compartment was very high because of the high metabolic

rates of predominant fish species (approximately 0.89 2.8