Winter Biology of Wild Fish in a Multi-Stressor World

我们鱼类生态及保育生理学实验室的长远目标是清楚了解环境与个体层面的生理、行为及适合性之间的相互关系。在过去五年中，在我们NSERC DG的支持下，我们的实验室在了解春夏两个月野生温带鱼类的压力方面取得了实质性进展。我们的研究对鱼类的压力产生了新的问题，其中许多与冬季有关，这是许多温带淡水鱼生活中自然具有挑战性的时期。此外，由于环境变化，许多温带湖泊的冬季条件正在以比夏季更快的速度变化。我们的5年目标，也是本DG应用的重点，是在多应激源世界的背景下研究野生鱼类的冬季生物学，试图了解(1)确定影响鱼类如何应对冬季相关挑战的生物和非生物因素，以及(2)了解冬季应激源对鱼类状况、行为和健康的影响。 将用于检验假设的科学方法将包括在自然田野(例如湖泊、河流)和中层(例如实验池塘和溪流)环境中进行广泛的实验和比较调查。我们将使用各种模型，并主要依赖非致命性组织采样和电子标签来研究各种生物因素(例如，身体大小、物种、营养状态、疾病状态、应激反应)和非生物因素(例如，栖息地质量、食物的可获得性)如何影响鱼类对冬季相关应激因素(例如，冰动态、低氧、春季冰融化的时间)的反应。在一些实验中，我们将把鱼暴露在不同的保存环境中(例如，操纵冬季条件下的中附体)，以了解应激源是如何单独或联合作用的。终点将包括生物能量学、行为和生存。我们还将研究冬季应激源对鱼类状况、行为、生存和繁殖的影响。这项工作将包括在实验条件下跨越季节和年份对鱼类进行长期监测，以了解冬季条件对鱼类性能的潜在影响(即季节性结转影响)。 拟议的研究将加强我们对冬季生态过程的了解，特别是在面临环境变化的情况下。冬季生态学的研究可能会在新发现方面取得丰硕成果，因为它是一个相对较少被研究和理解的季节，但人们普遍认为，鉴于它构成的挑战，它在构建动物种群方面发挥了重要作用。我们的工作还将为培训HQP提供更大的空间，使其具备解决复杂问题所需的技能，同时跨学科边界工作。除了进行研究外，HQP还将学习知识交流、#scicomm和协作团队合作。

The long-term goal of our Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Laboratory is to establish a clear understanding of the inter-relationships between the environment and individual-level physiology, behaviour and fitness. With support of our NSERC DG during the past five years our lab has made substantial progress in understanding stress in wild temperate fish during the spring and summer months. Our research has generated new questions about stress in fish, many of which relate to winter, a naturally challenging period in the lives of many temperate freshwater fishes. Moreover, the winter conditions of many temperate lakes are rivers are changing even more rapidly than in summer as a result of environmental change. Our 5-yr goal, and the focus of this DG application, is to study the winter biology of wild fish in the context of a multi-stressor world, attempting to understand (1) determine the biotic and abiotic factors that influence how fish respond to winter-related challenges, and (2) understand the consequences of winter stressors on fish condition, behaviour, and fitness. The scientific approaches that will be used test hypotheses will include extensive experimentation and comparative surveys in natural field (e.g., lakes, rivers) and mesocosm (e.g., experimental pond and stream) environments. We will use a variety of models and rely heavily on non-lethal tissue sampling combined with electronic tagging to examine how various biotic (e.g., body size, species, nutritional state, disease state, stress responsiveness) and abiotic (e.g., habitat quality, availability of food) factors influence how fish respond to winter-related stressors (e.g., ice dynamics, hypoxia, timing of spring ice melt). In some experiments we will expose fish to varied holding environments (e.g., manipulating winter conditions mesocosms) to understand how stressors act alone or in combination. Endpoints will include bioenergetics, behaviour, and survival. We will also examine the effects of winter stressors on fish condition, behaviour, survival, and reproduction. This work will include long-term monitoring of fish under experimental conditions across seasons and years to understand the latent effects of winter conditions on fish performance (i.e., seasonal carryover effects). The proposed research will enhance our understanding of ecological processes in the winter, particularly in the face of environmental change. Research on winter ecology is likely to be fruitful in terms of novel discoveries because it is a comparatively poorly studied and understood season, yet is widely thought to play an important role in structuring animal populations given the challenges it poses. Our work will also provide much scope for training HQP with skills needed to solve complex problems while working across disciplinary boundaries. Beyond conducting research the HQP will learn about knowledge exchange, #scicomm, and collaborative teamwork.