Spatial Articulation of Fish Growth Rate Potential: The Integration of Bioacoustics and Bioenergetics

本研究引入了一个新的概念，即鱼生长速率潜力，它是由关于猎物大小、猎物密度和物理环境的空间连接的现场数据与基于物种特定生理的鱼生长速率模型相结合而得到的。该方法结合了生物声学的优势来定量测量鱼类的密度和大小，并结合了生物能量学模型来准确地模拟鱼类的生长。其结果是一个关于鱼类生长和系统生产的二维、非线性生物物理模型。这项研究将建立数学上的生长速率潜力参数，并在假定捕食者行为(最佳觅食、温度调节、行为生物能量学)的不同生态假说的基础上，按日和季节评估鱼类生长速率潜力的敏感性和空间统计学。切萨皮克湾将被用作研究地点，因为有一个非常适合这些分析的广泛数据库。由于生长速率势将生物学和物理学联系在一个空间明确的框架内，因此它在预测环境模式或绝对尺度的变化如何影响较高营养水平的生产动态方面具有广泛的应用。预计增长速度潜力的概念将演变，并为概念类比的发展提供刺激。

This investigation introduces a new concept, fish growth rate potential, which is derived from the integration of spatially articulated field data on prey sizes, prey density and the physical environment with a species-specific physiological-based model of fish growth rate. The approach combines the strengths of bioacoustics to measure fish density and size quantitatively and of bioenergetics models to accurately simulate fish growth. The result is a two- dimensional, nonlinear biophysical model of fish growth and system production. This research will develop the growth rate potential parameter mathematically and evaluate the sensitivity and spatial statistics of fish growth rate potential on a diel and seasonal basis assuming different ecological hypotheses on predator behavior (optimal foraging, thermoregulation, behavioral bioenergetics). The Chesapeake Bay will be used as a study site because of the availability of an extensive database well-suited for these analyses. Since growth rate potential links biology and physics within a spatially-explicit framework, it has widespread application for predicting how changes in the patterning or absolute scaling of the environment might affect production dynamics of higher trophic levels. It is anticipated that the concept of growth rate potential will evolve and provide a stimulus for the development of conceptual analogs.