CRUI: Assessing Environmental Life Histories of Freshwater Fish: Applications of Otolith Microchemistry

这项跨学科的研究将促进更好地了解鱼耳石（耳石）中微量元素浓度的变化，并研究利用这些变化重建淡水鱼的环境生活史。 一个中心目标是开发这种技术用于淡水渔业研究，通过测试耳石微化学的能力，记录水化学的小变化在一个分水岭。 分析化学的最新发展使这项研究成为可能。 具体而言，激光烧蚀-电感耦合等离子体质谱（LA-ICP-MS）的发展使跨学科合作成为可能，汇集了野外生态学，微量元素地球化学和分析化学方面的互补专业知识。鱼类的耳石是鱼类生活史的关键指标，因为耳石层记录了鱼类在耳石沉积时生活的水的化学。 有了每天沉积的这些层，我们可以利用耳石中的化学变化来对托儿所栖息地进行化学指纹识别。 本文对阿肯色州中部小红河流域的一群褐鳟鱼（萨尔莫trutta）的耳石中Ba、Sr、Mg、Ca、稀土、Pb、d18 O、d13 C和87 Sr等元素和同位素的分布进行了研究。 本计画的主要目的是发展利用耳石微化学重建淡水鱼类环境生活史的技术。 这项研究将提供一个更好的理解耳石微化学，可以应用到广泛的关注，可能是生物学，人类学或环境的性质。 该项目还将在这些不同的跨学科研究中培训学生。

This interdisciplinary investigation will foster a better understanding of the variations in trace element concentrations in fish ear stones (otoliths) and study the utilization of these variations in reconstucting environmental life histories of freshwater fish. A central goal is to develop this technique for use in freshwater fisheries studies by testing the ability of otolith microchemistry to record small variations in water chemistry within a watershed. This research is made possible by recent developments in analytical chemistry. Specifically, the development of laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS) makes possible an interdisciplinary collaboration that brings together complementary expertise in field ecology, trace element geochemistry and analytical chemistry. The otoliths of fish are key indicators of fish life history as the layers of the otolith record the chemistry of the water in which the fish lived at the time of otolith deposition. With these layers deposited daily we can use the chemical variations in the otoliths to chemically fingerprint the nursery habitats. The distribution of a suite of elements and isotopes in otoliths (including Ba, Sr, Mg, Ca, the rare earths, Pb, d18O, d13C, and 87Sr) will be studied to determine elemental and isotopic variation within a population of brown trout, Salmo trutta, in the Little Red River watershed of central Arkansas. The major thrust of this project is to develop the technique of using otolith microchemistry to reconstruct environmental life histories of fresh water fish. This study will provide a better understanding of otolith microchemistry which could be applied to a wide range of concerns that may be biological, anthropological or environmental in nature. The project will also train students in these various cross-disciplinary studies.