Trifurcated Discovery: 1) size-at-age in exploited fish, 2) biomass spectrum in Northumberland Strait, and 3) finalising particle dispersion.

该提案有三个部分。首先，正在与一名学生合作研究一种相对较新的海洋温度测量方法及其与鱼类生长的关系。它是生长度日度量（GGD）或热积分;从海洋转移到鱼的热量总和。鱼是冷血动物。更多的热量意味着更好的生理功能和更大的年龄。年龄大小是一个生长积分。因此，我们期望生长和热积分之间的关系。最近对一名学生的研究表明，这正是我们所观察到的。其他研究人员现在已经采用该指标来研究鱼类生理学的各个方面。这个指标是农民用来确定作物成熟的指标，但他们使用的是气温。我们将在一系列具有商业价值的鱼类物种中扩大使用该指标，因为我们还表明，GDD可用于诊断可能遭受尺寸选择性捕捞的物种和种群。如果一个渔场优先捕捞大型鱼类，它就是捕捞生长最快、成熟最晚的鱼类（成熟导致生长减缓）。如果发生这种情况，那么种群中的大多数鱼都比给定年龄的鱼要小，而且它们成熟得更早。此外，当一个股票遭受规模选择效应时，它的可持续性就会降低。较小的鱼产生较少的卵，较早成熟的鱼具有较少的可存活的卵和幼虫。越来越多的证据表明，这些影响可能是不可逆转的。我们确实知道，一只股票越来越难以自我替代。因此，渔业的可持续性越来越低。如果我们能够诊断出显示大小选择效应的种群，我们就能够解决与可持续渔业管理有关的紧迫问题，包括补充（新鱼）和生态系统结构、功能和物种多样性的变化。我们知道不可持续的捕鱼的影响，例如，加拿大鳕鱼资源，但现在有一个选择性捕捞的关注，学生和我，以及一组同事，希望解决之前的后果变得明显。第二，正在与一名学生和具有类似兴趣的同事合作，以确定浮游动物（小型甲壳类动物或海跳蚤）生物量谱是否是诺森伯兰海峡生态系统功能的适当衡量标准。生物质谱是基于大小的测量，测量有多少能量（例如，我们还了解到，能量（卡路里）在水体中的分布情况，以及能量通过食物网从鱼类、螃蟹和龙虾等较小生物转移到较大生物时在时间和空间上的变化情况，这些生物是海峡的重要生态组成部分，是宝贵的渔业。光谱的效用在于它的物种独立性，这简化了从物种角度来看更困难的事情。研究海峡的价值在于它有点像一个管道。它在海峡的一端流入，在另一端流出，与已知的河口营养输入沿着。这简化了在公海上进行的困难和昂贵的工作。如果我们证明光谱是合适的，那么它的效用对于那些参与海洋建模和保护利益的人来说就变得显而易见了，例如综合生态系统管理和海洋保护区的设计。第三，我希望与一名学生一起完成我们最近开发的粒子追踪技术的研究，以估计水生生物早期生命阶段的扩散（运输和传播），这对于解释海洋物种的连通性至关重要。这项技术是同类技术中的第一项，它使我们能够测量与生物颗粒相同大小和浮力的真实的颗粒的扩散（例如，卵和幼虫）。这项研究还有助于改善与小规模扩散过程作斗争的数值海洋模型。

The proposal has 3 parts. First, is working with a student on a relatively new measure of ocean temperature and its relation to fish growth. It is the growing degree day metric (GGD) or thermal integral; a sum of heat transferred from the ocean to a fish. Fish are cold-blooded. More heat means better physiological functioning and larger size-at-age. Size-at-age is a growth integral. Thus, we expect a relation between the growth and thermal integrals. Recent work with a student shows this is precisely what we observe. Other researchers have now adopted the metric to examine various aspects of fish physiology. The metric is the one farmers use to determine crop ripening, but they use air temperature. We will expand our use of the metric across a suite of commercially valuable fish species because we have also shown that the GDD can be used to diagnose species and stocks that might be suffering from size-selective fishing. If a fishery preferentially targets the large fish, it is catching the fish that grow the fastest and mature the latest (maturation causes growth slow down). If this happens then the majority of the fish in the stock are smaller than they used to be at a given age, and they mature earlier. Also, when a stock suffers size-selective effects it becomes less sustainable. Smaller fish produce fewer eggs and the earlier maturing fish have less viable eggs and larvae. Increased evidence of the effects has raised concerns that they may be irreversible. We do know it becomes more difficult for a stock to replace itself. Thus fishing becomes less sustainable. If we can diagnose stocks showing size-selective effects, we can address pressing issues related to sustainable fisheries management, including recruitment (new fish) and changes in ecosystem structure, function and species diversity. We know the effects of unsustainable fishing, e.g., Canadian cod stocks, but now there is a selective fishing concern that the student and I, and a group of colleagues, wish to address before the consequences become apparent. Second, is working with a student and colleagues with similar interests to determine if the zooplankton (small crustaceans or sea fleas) biomass spectrum is a suitable measure of the functioning of the Northumberland Strait ecosystem. The biomass spectrum is a size-based measure of how much energy (e.g., calories) is in a body of water and how the energy varies in time and space when transferred through the food web from smaller to larger organisms such as fish, crabs and lobster that are critical ecological components of the Strait and represent a valuable fishery. The utility of the spectrum lies in its species independence that simplifies what would be more difficult from a species perspective. The value of studying the Strait is that it is somewhat like a pipe. It has inflow at one end of the Strait and outflow at the other, with known estuarine nutrient-input along the way. This simplifies what would be difficult and expensive to do the open ocean. If we show that the spectrum is suitable, then its utility becomes readily apparent to those involved in marine modeling and conservation interests such as integrated ecosystem management and the design of marine protected areas. Third, I wish to complete research with a student on our recently developed particle tracing technology to estimate early life-stage dispersal (transport and spreading) of aquatic organisms that is essential for explaining the connectivity of marine species. The technology, first of its kind, allows us to measure dispersal with real particles of the same size and buoyancy as biological particles (e.g., eggs and larvae). The research also contributes to improving numerical ocean models that struggle with small-scale diffusion processes.