The population dynamics of reef fishes
The population dynamics of reef fishes
复制标题
珊瑚礁鱼类的种群动态
DOI：
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发表时间：
1988
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
T. Hughes
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
R. R. Warner;T. Hughes
Recent models of populations with dispersive larvae have important lessons for the empirical ecologist studying reef fish populations. First, the models show that when recruitment is limiting, local populations will fluctuate around an equilibrium level even in the absence of any density-dependent effects. Second, when recruitment limitation occurs, variations in recruitment will cause fluctuations in population size, although it will be very difficult to detect this pattern in the populations consists of long-lived organisms. Such populations will be large relative to recruitment levels, and will have stored the effects of many past recruitment events. Third, even minor variation in the mortality rates of the settled population will severely reduce the correlation between recruitment and population size. Fourth, extreme fluctuations in numbers can result in strong density dependence in mortality and recruitment.
Thus most of the criteria used in past studies to characterize populations as recruitment-limited or density-dependent are suspect and should be employed with a great deal of caution. We advocate instead that experimental approaches be used to estimate the relative magnitudes of the effects of recruitment, density-dependence, and density-independence on population size and structure.
