Small fish holding system

生物体对快速变化的环境做出反应的能力取决于遗传和非遗传因素。与实地研究一起，实验试验有助于弄清遗传、环境、母体和发育因素对使有机体能够应对动态自然条件的特征变化的贡献。参与这项提议的研究人员研究了在盐度非常重要的动态生态系统中繁衍生息的鱼类。实验将有助于区分环境和遗传因素对Fundulus spp成员的相对影响。这笔赠款包括一系列不同寻常的繁殖类型(纯物种、有性和无性杂交)，以及确定早期生活环境条件对典型的圣劳伦斯中河口鱼类物种的影响。这笔赠款购买的设备包括两个鱼类夹持系统，这将允许开展旨在了解盐度水平低、高或变化如何影响几个鱼种的表型、适合度和生活策略的实验工作。每个系统由一个可容纳10个大罐(90个L)和30个小罐(2.8个L)的机架组成。这些设施由水泵输送经消毒细菌过滤的水，混合适量的淡水和咸水，以控制盐度。盐度可以保持恒定，也可以根据潮汐周期变化。需要两个单元来覆盖河口鱼类繁衍的自然盐度范围，因为较低和较高的盐度范围需要不同的细菌。该设备将保存在拉瓦尔大学的湿实验室设施中，并将完全向在理科学士学位背景下进行实验的本科生和研究生开放。或生物学研究生研究项目。

The capacity of organisms to react to rapidly changing environments depends on genetic and non-genetic factors. Along with field studies, experimental trials are useful to disentangle the contribution of genetic, environmental, maternal, and developmental factors contributing to the variation in traits enabling organisms to cope with dynamic natural conditions. The investigators involved in this proposal study fish that thrive in dynamic ecosystems where salinity is of major importance. Experiments will help parting the relative influence of environmental and genetic factors in members of Fundulus spp. comprising an unusual array of reproductive types (pure species, sexual and asexual hybrids) as well as determining the effect of early life environmental conditions on fish species typical of the St. Lawrence middle esturary such as Microgadus tomcod (tomcod).The equipment to be purchased with this grant consists of two fish holding systems that will permit experimental work aiming to understand how low, high, or varying salinity levels affect phenotypes, fitness and life strategies of several fish species. Each system is composed of a rack holding 10 large (90 L) and 30 small (2.8 L) self-cleaning tanks. These are supplied with sterilized bacteria-filtered water delivered by pumps mixing appropriate quantities of fresh and salt water to control salinity. Salinity can be kept constant or it can vary according to a tidal cycle. Two units are needed to cover the natural range of salinity where estuarine fishes thrive since lower and upper salinity ranges require different bacteria. This equipment will be kept at the wet lab facility of Université Laval and will be fully accessible to undergraduate and graduate students realizing experiments in the context of B.Sc. or graduate research project in biology.