U.S.-New Zealand Cooperative Research: Elemental Ratios andStructural Events in Fish Otoliths as Environmental and LifeHistory Indicators

该奖项将使夏威夷大学的Richard Radtke博士和新西兰惠灵顿农业和渔业部渔业研究中心的Robert Gauldie博士开展合作研究。他们将进行研究，目的是从鱼类耳石的结构和化学分析中提取鱼类的生活史和生理信息。在实验条件下维持的鱼的年、日和种群节律模式将与光镜和扫描电子显微镜观察到的耳石宏观和微观结构相关联。对耳石碳酸盐进行稳定的同位素和元素浓度的化学分析将被用来检验在实验中引起的化学变化，在野生鱼类中，这些变化将构成单个鱼类的历史。微探针分析将被用来解释温度的短期变化。结合对鱼耳石的结构和化学分析，可以潜在地得出个体鱼的生活史概况，以及关于鱼的环境历史的信息。这些信息将增加我们对招募和增长率背后的过程的了解，并使我们有可能将增长率和死亡率与营养和环境的发生联系起来。高迪博士实验室提供的分析设备，再加上高迪博士和拉德克博士的互补技能，使这种合作努力特别有吸引力。

This award will enable collaborative research between Dr. Richard Radtke of the University of Hawaii and Dr. Robert Gauldie of the Fisheries Research Center, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Wellington, New Zealand. They will conduct research aimed at extracting life history and physiological information on fish from structural and chemical analyses of fish otoliths. Yearly, daily and population rhythmic patterns in fish maintained under experimental conditions will be correlated with otolith macro- and micro-structure as observed by light and scanning electron microscopy. Chemical analyses of otolith carbonate for stable isotopic and elemental concentrations will be used to examine experimentally entrained changes in chemistry which in wild fish would constitute the history of an individual fish. Microprobe analyses will be used to interpret short-term changes in temperature. The combination of structural and chemical analyses of fish otoliths can potentially yield life history profiles for individual fish, together with information on the environmental history of the fish. Such information will increase our understanding of the processes underlying recruitment and growth rate and would make it possible to link growth and mortality rates to nutritional and environmental occurrences. The analytical equipment available in Dr. Gauldie's laboratory, together with the complementary skills of Drs. Gauldie and Radtke, make this collaborative effort particularly attractive.