Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Biology of Fishes

我的研究重点是自然种群内部和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成熟时的年龄和大小、每只雌性的卵数和后代大小的个体差异来反映。这种可变性的来源在多大程度上是遗传的、环境的，还是它们的某种组合？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命史对环境扰动（如栖息地改变和采伐）的反应是快速的还是缓慢的，或者它们是否会发生。其次，生活史反应的本质，即环境变化所产生的生殖策略的变化，可以影响种群从崩溃中恢复、持续生存和持续开发的能力。

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.