Predation Mortality and Behavior of Fish Larvae: Seasonal Variation and Critical Survival Skills

该项目将研究与种群成功相关的幼鱼行为、生长和死亡率之间的关系。它集中在产卵季节幼虫群体行为的变化，这是由于亲代贡献的变化以及在群体水平上生长速度和行为之间可能的权衡。它还试图从一系列可疑的生存技能中识别出关键的生存技能，以及关键的生存技能如何随着栖息地的变化而变化。具体目标是：(1)确定个体成虫产生的群体的生存技能和生长速度在季节和成虫之间的变化；(2)确定关键生存技能；(3)比较定居前和定居后幼虫的关键生存技能；(4)确认关键生存技能在降低捕食死亡率方面的重要性。这些目标将通过对饲养和野外捕获的幼虫进行实验室实验来实现，这些实验将测量11种可疑的生存技能。野外捕获的幼虫的生存特征分析将揭示每个栖息地的关键生存技能，这将通过实地实验得到证实。知识的优点。在海洋生物（包括许多经济上重要的鱼类）的种群动态中，补充水平的变化是最重要的，但却知之甚少的问题之一。本研究将探讨：(1)很少或没有正式调查的鱼类招募变化的来源；(2)不同栖息地中幼鱼行为与招募之间的联系以及这些联系的变化。通过更好地了解行为与死亡率之间的联系，包括个体生存的机制以及群体间死亡率的变化，这项研究将有助于了解和预测动物数量变化和死亡机制的持续努力。所有这些对于商业捕捞物种和那些需要保护免受人类影响的物种的管理计划都是至关重要的。更广泛的影响。研究结果将在自然种群之外得到应用。被捕捞鱼类种群的渔业管理计划通常包括通过放养孵化场生产的鱼类来增加自然种群。该研究可使孵化场管理人员更有效地分配精力和资金，从而最大限度地提高放养方案的有效性。它还可以为今后的研究工作提供方向，以提高放养作为一种管理工具的效力。本项目将为一名博士后和两名研究生提供实验室和实地研究经验、数据分析和报告编写等专业培训。这些参与者还将参加科学会议，传播项目成果，向其他研究人员学习，并扩大他们的专业联系网络。本科生志愿者也将参与其中，为他们提供初步的研究经验。所有参与者每天都将与代表生物地球化学、生态系统动力学和鱼类生理学和生态学的跨学科研究小组进行互动。该项目代表了资源管理机构德克萨斯公园和野生动物部（TPWD）与该大学的研究和教育任务之间的新的专业联系。合作者是一位西班牙裔美国人，最近才获得博士学位。他将免费为该项目提供关键的帮助，作为回报，他将接触到一系列新的实验方案和分析。该项目的成果将通过在主要期刊上的出版物、会议报告和通讯文章向科学界传播，并通过该机构的公共系列讲座向公众传播，该系列讲座通常每周吸引150-200人参加，并在游客中心进行公开展示，每年将吸引数千人参加。与水务署的合作将确保有关的结果得到持份者的评估。

This project will examine the relationships between larval fish behavior, growth, and mortality, as related to population success. It concentrates on variability in behavior of larval cohorts during the spawning season due to variation in parental contributions and the possible trade-off between growth rate and behavior at the cohort level. It also seeks to identify critical survival skills from among a set of suspected survival skills and how critical survival skills change with habitat. Specific objectives are to: (1) determine how survival skills and growth rates of cohorts produced by individual adults vary during the season and among adults, (2) identify critical survival skills, (3) compare critical survival skills for presettlement and postsettlement larvae, and (4) confirm the importance of critical survival skills in reducing predation mortality. These objectives will be met through laboratory experiments on reared and wild-caught larvae that will measure 11 suspected survival skills. Characteristics-of-survivors analyses on wild-caught larvae will reveal the critical survival skills in each habitat, which will be confirmed by field-based experiments.Intellectual Merits. Variation in recruitment levels is one of the most important, yet poorly understood problems in population dynamics of marine organisms, including many economically important fishes. This study will examine: (1) a source of variation in recruitment that has received little or no formal investigation and (2) the linkages between larval fish behavior and recruitment and the changes in these linkages in different habitats. The research will contribute to the ongoing effort to understand and predict variations in animal abundance and the mechanisms of mortality, by providing a better understanding of the link between behavior and mortality, including the mechanisms of individual survival as well as variability in mortality among cohorts. All of this is essential for management plans for commercially harvested species and those in need of protection from human impacts.Broader Impacts. The results will have application beyond natural populations. Fishery management plans for exploited fish populations often include enhancement of natural populations through stocking of hatchery-produced fish. This study could allow hatchery managers to allocate effort and funds more efficiently so as to maximize the effectiveness of stocking protocols. It could also provide direction to future research efforts to improve the efficacy of stocking as a management tool. This project will provide professional training to one postdoctoral associate and two graduate students in the form of laboratory and field research experiences, data analysis, and report preparation. These participants will also attend scientific meetings to disseminate projects results, to learn from other researchers, and to expand their network of professional contacts. Undergraduate student volunteers will be incorporated as well, giving them their initial research experience. All participants will interact daily with an interdisciplinary group of researchers representing biogeochemistry, ecosystem dynamics, and fish physiology and ecology. The project represents a new professional linkage between Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), a resource management agency, and the research and education missions of the university. The collaborator is an Hispanic American who received his PhD very recently. He will provide critical assistance at no cost to the project and, in return, will be exposed to a new array of experimental protocols and analyses. Results of the project will be disseminated to the scientific community through publications in primary journals, conference presentations, and newsletter articles, and to the public through the institution's public lecture series, which typically draws 150-200 people weekly, and a public display in the visitor center, which will reach thousands of people each year. Collaboration with TPWD will ensure that the relevant results are evaluated by the stakeholders.