NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2019: Examining Natural and Anthropogenic Influences on the Physiology, Population Structure, and Trophic Structure of Larval Rockfishes

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This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2019, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will utilize biological collections in innovative ways. Determining how environmental factors influence larval fish populations is essential to predicting the adult population structure and will enhance fishery management strategies. The primary factors affecting early-life mortality are predation and starvation, which are affected by oxygen, nutrients, and other ocean conditions including warming and acidification linked to human activity that has increased carbon emissions. To better understand factors that affect larval physiology and predator-prey interactions, this project will apply modern biochemical techniques to larval fish collections spanning 67 years. These specimens together with a corresponding oceanographic dataset were collected by the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations program and represent the longest fishery-independent dataset in the world. This work will contribute to understanding the 'winners' and 'losers' in future ocean conditions, and provide fishery managers with crucial information that may be applied to maintain commercially-important fishery stocks and preserve local biodiversity.This project will perform analysis on previously collected larval cowcod (Sebastes levis) and bocaccio (Sebastes paucispinis), two commercially important species that have experienced dramatic decline throughout the 20th century. Using modern biochemical techniques, three long-term physiological, genetic, and isotopic datasets will be generated using immunohistochemistry, DNA-sequencing, and stable isotope analysis. These datasets will then be paired with oceanographic datasets and aligned with the collapse and recovery of the two rockfish populations to determine whether the implementation of the Marine Protected Area was successful. This analysis will also reveal the effects of anthropogenic carbon emission on larval physiology. Formalin-fixed specimens are notorious for being problematic for immunohistochemical and DNA-sequencing analysis. These techniques will be refined in this work to establish approaches that could be applied to biological collections around the world. Finally, the fellow will also translate this research project into a webcomic via Squidtoons for public dissemination, ultimately facilitating better public understanding and appreciation of biological research and collections.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.