Predation Mortality and Behavior of Fish Larvae: Seasonal Variation and Critical Survival Skills

鱼类幼虫的捕食死亡率和行为：季节变化和关键的生存技能

• 批准号: 0425241
• 负责人: Lee Fuiman
• 金额: $ 48万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Austin
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-08-01 至 2009-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0425241&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Predation; Mortality; Behavior; Fish; Larvae

This project will examine the relationships between larval fish behavior, growth, and mortality, as related to population success. It concentrates on variability in behavior of larval cohorts during the spawning season due to variation in parental contributions and the possible trade-off between growth rate and behavior at the cohort level. It also seeks to identify critical survival skills from among a set of suspected survival skills and how critical survival skills change with habitat. Specific objectives are to: (1) determine how survival skills and growth rates of cohorts produced by individual adults vary during the season and among adults, (2) identify critical survival skills, (3) compare critical survival skills for presettlement and postsettlement larvae, and (4) confirm the importance of critical survival skills in reducing predation mortality. These objectives will be met through laboratory experiments on reared and wild-caught larvae that will measure 11 suspected survival skills. Characteristics-of-survivors analyses on wild-caught larvae will reveal the critical survival skills in each habitat, which will be confirmed by field-based experiments.Intellectual Merits. Variation in recruitment levels is one of the most important, yet poorly understood problems in population dynamics of marine organisms, including many economically important fishes. This study will examine: (1) a source of variation in recruitment that has received little or no formal investigation and (2) the linkages between larval fish behavior and recruitment and the changes in these linkages in different habitats. The research will contribute to the ongoing effort to understand and predict variations in animal abundance and the mechanisms of mortality, by providing a better understanding of the link between behavior and mortality, including the mechanisms of individual survival as well as variability in mortality among cohorts. All of this is essential for management plans for commercially harvested species and those in need of protection from human impacts.Broader Impacts. The results will have application beyond natural populations. Fishery management plans for exploited fish populations often include enhancement of natural populations through stocking of hatchery-produced fish. This study could allow hatchery managers to allocate effort and funds more efficiently so as to maximize the effectiveness of stocking protocols. It could also provide direction to future research efforts to improve the efficacy of stocking as a management tool. This project will provide professional training to one postdoctoral associate and two graduate students in the form of laboratory and field research experiences, data analysis, and report preparation. These participants will also attend scientific meetings to disseminate projects results, to learn from other researchers, and to expand their network of professional contacts. Undergraduate student volunteers will be incorporated as well, giving them their initial research experience. All participants will interact daily with an interdisciplinary group of researchers representing biogeochemistry, ecosystem dynamics, and fish physiology and ecology. The project represents a new professional linkage between Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), a resource management agency, and the research and education missions of the university. The collaborator is an Hispanic American who received his PhD very recently. He will provide critical assistance at no cost to the project and, in return, will be exposed to a new array of experimental protocols and analyses. Results of the project will be disseminated to the scientific community through publications in primary journals, conference presentations, and newsletter articles, and to the public through the institution's public lecture series, which typically draws 150-200 people weekly, and a public display in the visitor center, which will reach thousands of people each year. Collaboration with TPWD will ensure that the relevant results are evaluated by the stakeholders.

这个项目将研究幼鱼行为，生长和死亡率之间的关系，与人口的成功。它集中在产卵季节的幼虫队列的行为的变化，由于父母的贡献和可能的权衡之间的增长率和行为在队列水平的变化。它还试图从一组可疑的生存技能中确定关键的生存技能，以及关键的生存技能如何随着栖息地的变化而变化。具体目标是：（1）确定个体成虫所产生的群体的生存技能和生长率在季节和成虫之间的变化，（2）确定关键的生存技能，（3）比较定居前和定居后幼虫的关键生存技能，（4）确认关键生存技能在降低捕食死亡率方面的重要性。这些目标将通过对饲养和野生捕获的幼虫进行实验室实验来实现，这些实验将测量11种疑似生存技能。对野外捕获的幼虫进行的幸存者特征分析将揭示每个栖息地的关键生存技能，并将通过实地实验加以证实。补充水平的变化是海洋生物包括许多经济上重要的鱼类的种群动态中最重要但知之甚少的问题之一。这项研究将审查：（1）补充的变异来源，很少或没有得到正式的调查和（2）仔鱼行为和补充之间的联系，以及这些联系在不同生境中的变化。这项研究将有助于理解和预测动物丰度的变化和死亡机制，通过更好地理解行为和死亡率之间的联系，包括个体生存机制以及队列之间死亡率的变化。所有这些对于商业捕捞物种和需要保护免受人类影响的物种的管理计划至关重要。这些结果将有超出自然种群的应用。捕捞鱼类种群的渔业管理计划通常包括通过放养孵化场生产的鱼类来增加自然种群。这项研究可以让孵化场管理人员更有效地分配精力和资金，以最大限度地提高放养协议的有效性。它还可以为今后的研究工作提供方向，以提高放养作为管理工具的效力。该项目将为一名博士后助理和两名研究生提供实验室和实地研究经验、数据分析和报告编写等方面的专业培训。这些参与者还将参加科学会议，以传播项目成果，向其他研究人员学习，并扩大他们的专业联系网络。本科生志愿者也将被纳入，给他们最初的研究经验。所有参与者将每天与代表海洋地球化学，生态系统动力学和鱼类生理学和生态学的跨学科研究人员进行互动。该项目代表了得克萨斯州公园和野生动物部（TPWD），资源管理机构，和大学的研究和教育任务之间的新的专业联系。合作者是一位西班牙裔美国人，他最近获得了博士学位。他将免费为该项目提供关键援助，作为回报，他将接触到一系列新的实验方案和分析。该项目的成果将通过主要期刊上的出版物、会议报告和通讯文章传播给科学界，并通过该机构的公开讲座系列向公众传播，该系列通常每周吸引150-200人，并在游客中心进行公开展示，每年将吸引数千人。与TPWD的合作将确保利益相关者对相关结果进行评估。