Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Biology of Fishes

我的研究重点是自然种群内和自然种群之间生殖策略的巨大差异。这种生活史的差异可以通过个体在年龄和成熟时的大小、每只雌性的产卵量和后代大小上的差异来反映。这种可变性的来源在多大程度上是遗传的、环境的或它们的某种组合？这是进化生态学和保护生物学的一个基本问题。首先，变异的来源决定了生活史对环境扰动(如栖息地改变和收获)的反应是快速还是缓慢，甚至根本不会发生。其次，生活史反应的性质，即环境变化引起的繁殖策略的变化，会影响种群从崩溃中恢复、经得起时间的坚持和持续开发的能力。我的建议将分子遗传学与野外和实验室研究相结合。我的总体目标是：1)确定如何在不同的环境中维持不同的繁殖策略；2)确定种群对环境变化的反应能力有何不同；3)确定影响枯竭物种恢复的因素。一项研究提出，为什么大西洋鲑鱼种群中体型非常小(8厘米)和非常大(100厘米)的雄性能够共存。另一项研究建立在对小河鲑鱼长达25年的研究基础上，以了解自然种群对环境变化的反应能力有何不同。其他研究则考察了交配行为等因素，假设这些因素会阻碍大西洋鳕鱼等物种在物种灭绝后恢复的能力。从实际或应用方面来看，拟议研究的影响在于：(1)预测鱼类对气候变化的反应；(2)了解为什么一些数量锐减的商业物种没有恢复；(3)确定人类诱导的选择(通过捕捞)是否能从基因上改变个人和种群对环境变化的反应能力。

My research focuses on the tremendous variability in reproductive strategies within and among natural populations. Such life history variation can be reflected by individual differences in age & size at maturity, number of eggs per female, and offspring size. To what extent is the source of this variability genetic, environmental, or some combination thereof? This is a fundamental question to evolutionary ecology and conservation biology. Firstly, the source of variation determines whether life history responses to environmental perturbations, such as habitat alteration and harvesting, will be rapid, slow, or indeed whether they will occur at all. Secondly, the nature of the life history response, i.e., the change in reproductive strategy produced by the environmental change, can affect a population's ability to recover from collapse, persist through time, and sustain exploitation.My proposal integrates molecular genetics with field and laboratory research. My general objectives are: 1) to determine how different reproductive strategies are maintained in variable environments; 2) to determine how populations differ in their ability to respond to environmental change; and 3) to identify factors that affect the recovery of depleted species. One study asks why very small (8cm) and very large (100cm) males are able to co-exist in populations of Atlantic salmon. Another builds upon 25 years of research on brook trout to understand how natural populations differ in their ability to respond to environmental change. Other work examines factors, such as mating behaviour, hypothesized to hinder the ability of species such as Atlantic cod to recover following collapse. From a practical or applied aspect, the impact of the proposed research lies in its potential to: (i) forecast responses by fish to climate change; (ii) understand why some numerically collapsed commercial species have not recovered; and (iii) determine whether human-induced selection (through fishing) can genetically alter the ability of individuals and populations to respond to environmental change.