High through-put digital field-based fish measurement system

针对鱼类在水生生态学、进化和生理学中的作用的研究，严重依赖于对生物体及其在生态系统中的作用至关重要的一些基本测量。这些测量中最关键的包括体型、性别和生殖状态，然而，在不利的野外条件下，收集这些关键数据传统上既耗时又困难，从而限制了项目和数据集的规模以及数据质量。拟议的基础设施是一个基于现场的鱼类数字测量系统，将在困难的现场条件下自动收集关键数据，允许非常大的样本数量和出色的数据质量。该系统由一个专用的防风雨计算机组成，该计算机内置在一个测量板上，可以将单个鱼的长度、重量、性别和成熟状态数字化。该板还装有一个PIT标签阅读器，用于跟踪单独标记的鱼的研究，并连接到一个单独的，但集成的现场规模，能够在移动平台上精确测量，即使部分淹没。将这些数字测量功能作为一个集成单元，将每条鱼的数据收集时间从5-10分钟缩短到不到20秒，当乘以该项目的合作项目负责人进行的大型项目必须测量的数百或数千条鱼时，效率将显著提高。拟议的鱼类测量系统将简化申请人（及其学生）的领域，孵化场和湿实验室数据收集，允许比该设备可用之前更大的样本量和更准确的数据收集（数字测量板两年前首次可用）。拟议的基础设施对于针对濒危和被开发物种的鱼类种群动态进行研究至关重要，从而有助于维护加拿大的自然资源，并将对涉及渔业和水产养殖业合作者的当前和未来项目产生重大益处。该基础设施还将允许copi生成基本的生态和进化数据集，处理栖息地/生长/繁殖的相互作用，以及体型-繁殖的权衡等。

Studies targeting the role of fish in aquatic ecology, evolution and physiology depend critically upon a few basic measurements that are fundamental to the organism and their role in their ecosystem. The most critical of these measurements include body size, sex and reproductive status, yet collecting those crucial data have traditionally been time consuming and logistically difficult under unfavourable field conditions, thus limiting project and dataset size as well as data quality. The proposed infrastructure, a field-based digital measurement system for fish, will automate the collection of critical data under difficult field conditions permitting very large sample numbers with excellent data quality. The system is composed of a dedicated weather-proof computer built into a measuring board that digitizes individual fish length, weight, sex, and maturation status. The board also houses a PIT tag reader for studies that follow individually tagged fish, and is connected to a separate, but integrated, field scale capable of measuring accurately on moving platforms, even when partially submerged. Having these digital measuring capabilities as an integrated unit will transform data collection from taking 5-10 minutes to under 20 seconds for each fish, a significant efficiency increase when multiplied over the hundreds or thousands of fish that must be measured for the large-scale projects conducted by the co-PIs of this project. The proposed fish measuring system will streamline the applicant's (and their student's) field, hatchery and wet-lab data collection, allowing larger sample sizes and more accurate data collection than was possible before this equipment was available (the digital measuring board was first available two years ago). The proposed infrastructure is critical for studies targeting fish population dynamics for at-risk and exploited species, thus helping maintain Canada's natural resources, and will be of a significant benefit to current and future projects involving collaborators in the fisheries and aquaculture industries. The infrastructure will also allow the CoPIs to generate fundamental ecological and evolutionary datasets dealing with habitat/growth/reproduction interactions, and body size-reproduction trade-offs, among others.