Ecology and behaviour during early life stages of fishes: theory and application

大多数种类的鱼都产很多卵(r-选择的)。例如，一只雌性冬季比目鱼每年可以产生多达300万个卵，平均生殖时间为7年。然而，很少有胚胎能存活到生殖。无论是在野外还是在水产养殖环境中，这些r-精选物种的死亡率在生命的第一年都非常高。这一生活史战略对我们理解鱼类种群动态至关重要，对水产养殖业的发展也是一个重大挑战。在这些重要的早期生命阶段，我和我的学生一起研究鱼类的生态学和行为。我建议在五个方面继续我的研究：1)蛋黄和脂肪的数量和质量对幼虫大小和性能的影响，2)母本和父本对后代大小和性能变异的重要性，3)这些性状的遗传力，4)非生物因素对生长和存活的影响及其与1-3区的相互作用，5)卵、幼虫和幼虫分布的空间生态模型的建立。在过去的几年里，我的实验室开发了许多先进的工具来研究基因对鱼类性能特征(表型)的影响。我们开发了第一个成功的显微注射系统来控制鱼胚胎中卵黄储备的大小和成分。我们最近还开发了适用于冬季比目鱼、鳕鱼和黑线鳕的高效精子冷冻方案。这两个进步为我们提供了一个机会来考察父母对后代表现的相对贡献。虽然这些生物因素极其重要，但我们也必须了解非生物(物理)因素如何影响它们。我们会继续进行以实验室为基础的实验，提供与生态和水产养殖有关的非生物因素(例如温度)如何影响鱼类生长和存活的资料。这些数据将被用于实地分析，以研究鱼类去哪里以及为什么。空间生态学的这一方面提供了小型实验室实验和野生种群研究之间的关键纽带。

Most species of fish produce many eggs (r-selected). For example, a female winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) can produce up to 3 million eggs per year and is reproductive for an average of 7 years. However, very few embryos survive to reproduction. Mortality rates for these r-selected species, both in field and aquaculture settings, are extremely high during the first year of life. This life-history strategy is of fundamental importance to our understanding of fish population dynamics and a significant challenge to aquaculture development. Together with my students, I study ecology and behaviour of fishes during these important early life stages. I propose to continue my research in five areas: 1) effects of yolk and lipid quantity and quality on larval size and performance, 2) importance of maternal and paternal contributions to offspring variability in size and performance, 3) heritability of these traits, 4) effects of abiotic factors on growth and survival and their interactions with areas 1 through 3, and 5) development of spatial ecological models of egg, larval and juvenile distributions. Over the past few years my lab has developed a number of advanced tools to investigate the effects of genotype on performance traits (phenotype) of fishes. We developed the first successful microinjection system to control size and constituents of yolk reserves in fish embryos. We also recently developed efficient sperm cryopreservation protocols for winter flounder, cod and haddock. These two advances provide us with the opportunity to examine the relative contributions of the parents to offspring performance. While these biotic factors are extremely important, we also have to understand how abiotic (physical) factors may affect them. We will continue to conduct laboratory-based experiments to provide information on how abiotic factors (such as temperature), relevant to ecology and aquaculture, affect fish growth and survival. This data will be used with field analyses to study where fish go and why. This aspect of spatial ecology provides a key link between small-scale laboratory experiments and the study of wild populations.