Trifurcated Discovery: 1) size-at-age in exploited fish, 2) biomass spectrum in Northumberland Strait, and 3) finalising particle dispersion.

该提案有三个部分。首先，他和一名学生合作，研究一种相对较新的海洋温度测量方法及其与鱼类生长的关系。它是生长度日度量（GGD）或热积分；热量：从海洋传递给鱼的热量总和鱼是冷血动物。更多的热量意味着更好的生理机能和更大的体型。年龄尺寸是一个成长积分。因此，我们期望生长和热积分之间的关系。最近对一名学生的研究表明，这正是我们所观察到的。其他研究人员现在已经采用这个度量标准来检查鱼类生理的各个方面。这个指标是农民用来确定作物成熟的，但他们使用的是气温。我们将把这一指标的使用范围扩大到一系列具有商业价值的鱼类，因为我们还表明，GDD可以用来诊断可能受到尺寸选择性捕捞影响的物种和种群。如果一个渔场优先以大鱼为目标，那么它就是在捕捉生长最快、成熟最晚的鱼（成熟导致生长放缓）。如果发生这种情况，那么种群中的大多数鱼在给定年龄时都比以前小，并且成熟得更早。此外，当一只股票遭受规模选择效应时，它的可持续性就会降低。较小的鱼产的卵较少，早熟的鱼有较少的可存活的卵和幼虫。越来越多的证据表明，气候变化的影响可能是不可逆转的。我们确实知道，股票要自我替换变得更加困难。因此，渔业变得不可持续。如果我们能够诊断出表现出大小选择效应的种群，我们就能解决与可持续渔业管理有关的紧迫问题，包括补充（新鱼类）和生态系统结构、功能和物种多样性的变化。我们知道不可持续捕捞的影响，例如，加拿大鳕鱼种群，但现在有一个选择性捕捞的问题，我和学生以及一组同事希望在后果变得明显之前加以解决。其次，他正在与一名学生和有着相似兴趣的同事合作，以确定浮游动物（小甲壳类动物或海蚤）生物量谱是否是衡量诺森伯兰海峡生态系统功能的合适指标。生物量光谱是一种基于大小的测量方法，用于测量水体中有多少能量（如卡路里），以及当能量通过食物网从较小的生物转移到较大的生物（如鱼、蟹和龙虾）时，能量在时间和空间上的变化情况，这些生物是海峡重要的生态组成部分，代表着有价值的渔业。光谱的效用在于它的物种独立性，这简化了从物种角度来看更困难的事情。研究海峡的价值在于它有点像一根管子。它在海峡的一端流入，在另一端流出，沿途有已知的河口营养输入。这简化了在开阔海域进行的困难和昂贵的工作。如果我们证明该光谱是合适的，那么对于那些参与海洋建模和保护利益（如综合生态系统管理和海洋保护区设计）的人来说，它的效用就很明显了。第三，我希望与一名学生一起完成我们最近开发的粒子追踪技术的研究，以估计水生生物在生命早期阶段的扩散（运输和传播），这对解释海洋物种的连通性至关重要。这项技术是同类技术中的第一个，它允许我们用与生物颗粒（如卵和幼虫）大小和浮力相同的真实颗粒来测量扩散。该研究还有助于改进与小尺度扩散过程作斗争的数值海洋模式。

The proposal has 3 parts. First, is working with a student on a relatively new measure of ocean temperature and its relation to fish growth. It is the growing degree day metric (GGD) or thermal integral; a sum of heat transferred from the ocean to a fish. Fish are cold-blooded. More heat means better physiological functioning and larger size-at-age. Size-at-age is a growth integral. Thus, we expect a relation between the growth and thermal integrals. Recent work with a student shows this is precisely what we observe. Other researchers have now adopted the metric to examine various aspects of fish physiology. The metric is the one farmers use to determine crop ripening, but they use air temperature. We will expand our use of the metric across a suite of commercially valuable fish species because we have also shown that the GDD can be used to diagnose species and stocks that might be suffering from size-selective fishing. If a fishery preferentially targets the large fish, it is catching the fish that grow the fastest and mature the latest (maturation causes growth slow down). If this happens then the majority of the fish in the stock are smaller than they used to be at a given age, and they mature earlier. Also, when a stock suffers size-selective effects it becomes less sustainable. Smaller fish produce fewer eggs and the earlier maturing fish have less viable eggs and larvae. Increased evidence of the effects has raised concerns that they may be irreversible. We do know it becomes more difficult for a stock to replace itself. Thus fishing becomes less sustainable. If we can diagnose stocks showing size-selective effects, we can address pressing issues related to sustainable fisheries management, including recruitment (new fish) and changes in ecosystem structure, function and species diversity. We know the effects of unsustainable fishing, e.g., Canadian cod stocks, but now there is a selective fishing concern that the student and I, and a group of colleagues, wish to address before the consequences become apparent. Second, is working with a student and colleagues with similar interests to determine if the zooplankton (small crustaceans or sea fleas) biomass spectrum is a suitable measure of the functioning of the Northumberland Strait ecosystem. The biomass spectrum is a size-based measure of how much energy (e.g., calories) is in a body of water and how the energy varies in time and space when transferred through the food web from smaller to larger organisms such as fish, crabs and lobster that are critical ecological components of the Strait and represent a valuable fishery. The utility of the spectrum lies in its species independence that simplifies what would be more difficult from a species perspective. The value of studying the Strait is that it is somewhat like a pipe. It has inflow at one end of the Strait and outflow at the other, with known estuarine nutrient-input along the way. This simplifies what would be difficult and expensive to do the open ocean. If we show that the spectrum is suitable, then its utility becomes readily apparent to those involved in marine modeling and conservation interests such as integrated ecosystem management and the design of marine protected areas. Third, I wish to complete research with a student on our recently developed particle tracing technology to estimate early life-stage dispersal (transport and spreading) of aquatic organisms that is essential for explaining the connectivity of marine species. The technology, first of its kind, allows us to measure dispersal with real particles of the same size and buoyancy as biological particles (e.g., eggs and larvae). The research also contributes to improving numerical ocean models that struggle with small-scale diffusion processes.