scholarly journals Selection of growth functions for describing length-at-age relationships in fish species displaying different life history traits: unexpected alternatives to the von Bertalanffy equation and advantages of a pluralistic statistical approach.

Author(s):  
A Dumas
2011 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 548 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Tanaka ◽  
T. Kitamura ◽  
T. Mochizuki ◽  
K. Kofuji

The white shark, a top predator inhabiting the world’s oceans, is an endangered species. However, knowledge of its life-history traits and population structure is still limited. We hypothesised that life-history traits would vary among populations because the species’ various habitats are diverse and change through time. Age was estimated by counting growth bands in the centra of white sharks caught in Japan. The von Bertalanffy growth parameters were estimated at L∞ = 455 cm TL, k = 0.196 year–1 and t0 = –1.92 years for males and L∞ = 607 cm TL, k = 0.159 year–1 and t0 = –1.80 years for females. The growth rate to maturity was higher than that known for individuals from California and South Africa. Male sharks matured at 310 cm TL at 4 years of age and females began to mature at ~450 cm TL and 7 years. The D-loop-region sequences of mitochondrial DNA extracted from Japanese white sharks and GenBank datasets from sharks of California, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa indicate that Japanese white sharks form a monophyletic clade separate from the populations of other regions. The results suggest that unique life-history traits of Japanese white sharks may be caused by genetic differences.


2009 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
pp. 673-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maylis Labonne ◽  
Eric Morize ◽  
Pierre Scolan ◽  
Raymond Lae ◽  
Eric Dabas ◽  
...  

2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 683-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard de Mérona ◽  
Jan Mol ◽  
Régis Vigouroux ◽  
Paulo de Tarso Chaves

Fish species are known for their large phenotypic plasticity in life-history traits in relation to environmental characteristics. Plasticity allows species to increase their fitness in a given environment. Here we examined the life-history response of fish species after an abrupt change in their environment caused by the damming of rivers. Two reservoirs of different age, both situated on the Guiana Shield, were investigated: the young Petit-Saut Reservoir in French Guiana (14 years) and the much older Brokopondo Reservoir in Suriname (44 years). Six life-history traits in 14 fish species were studied and compared to their value in the Sinnamary River prior to the completion of Petit-Saut Reservoir. The traits analyzed were maximum length, absolute and relative length at first maturation, proportion of mature oocytes in ripe gonad, batch fecundity and mean size of mature oocytes. The results revealed a general increase of reproductive effort. All species showed a decrease in maximum length. Compared to the values observed before the dam constructions, eight species had larger oocytes and three species showed an increased batch fecundity. These observed changes suggest a trend towards a pioneer strategy. The changes observed in Petit-Saut Reservoir also seemed to apply to the 30 years older Brokopondo Reservoir suggesting that these reservoirs remain in a state of immaturity for a long time.


2009 ◽  
Vol 106 (5) ◽  
pp. 1473-1478 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Galarza ◽  
J. Carreras-Carbonell ◽  
E. Macpherson ◽  
M. Pascual ◽  
S. Roques ◽  
...  

1992 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Haardt ◽  
C. Höller

AbstractSix isofemale lines of the aphid parasitoid Aphelinus abdominalis (Dalman) were compared for life history traits related to parasitism of three cereal aphid species. The lines differed most in the number of hosts parasitized in 24 h and the developmental times of females and males. Cluster and discriminant analysis showed that these differences were pronounced between line I, line II and lines III-VI, but not between lines III, IV, V and VI. Cross-breeding experiments revealed reproductive barriers between the lines which proved to differ most in life history traits, indicating the possible existence of morphologically similar species. Given the variability in life history traits between lines of A. abdominalis recorded in this study, we suggest a careful selection of candidate strains for biological control will be rewarding.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Vincenzi ◽  
Dusan Jesensek ◽  
Alain J Crivelli

AbstractThe differences in life-history traits and processes between organisms living in the same or different populations contribute to determine their ecological and evolutionary dynamics. Recent advances in statistical and computational methods make it easier to investigate individual and group variation in life-history traits.We developed mixed-effect model formulations of the popular size-at-age von Bertalanffy and Gompertz growth functions to estimate individual and group variation in body growth, using as a model system four freshwater fish populations living in Slovenian streams, where tagged individuals were sampled for more than 10 years. We used the software Template Model Builder to estimate the parameters of the mixed-effect growth models.Estimates of asymptotic size from the Gompertz and von Bertalanffy models were not significantly correlated, but their predictions of size-at-age of individuals were strongly correlated (r > 0.99). Tests on data that were not used to estimate model parameters showed that predictions of individual growth trajectories using the random-effects model were accurately predicted (R2 > 0.80 for the best models over more than 500 predictions) starting from one single observation of body size early in life. Model results pointed to size ranks that are largely maintained throughout the lifetime of individuals in all populations.


2012 ◽  
Vol 63 (8) ◽  
pp. 687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Izzo ◽  
Kate R. Rodda

Port Jackson sharks are distributed throughout southern Australia, with evidence suggesting that potential subpopulations exist. If subpopulations are evident, then phenotypic variation among groups should result in differences in life-history parameters. The present study tested for patterns of spatial variability of life-history parameters among regional Port Jackson shark populations. Rates of growth from Port Jackson sharks caught in the gulf waters of South Australia were calculated on the basis of counts of vertebral increments. Growth parameters were obtained by fitting the length-at-age data to von Bertalanffy and Gompertz growth functions. While the derived growth curves fit the length-at-age data well (r2 ranged from 0.87 to 0.91), parameters showed considerable differences between the two functions, with the von Bertalanffy function providing the more realistic estimates of growth (combined sexes: k = 0.081 year–1, L∞ = 1232 mm total length and t0 = –1.937 years). Life-history parameters for South Australian Port Jackson sharks were collated with the available data for the species, facilitating comparisons among regional populations. Growth curves among populations varied significantly; however, considerable overlap in the length ranges of size at birth and sizes at maturity among populations were evident. Overall, the data presented here do not provide definitive support for the presence of subpopulations across the distribution of the Port Jackson shark, suggesting that molecular analysis maybe required to directly test for structuring.


2003 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  

AbstractSeven life-history traits were used to describe the life-history strategies of 12 native and introduced species from a permanent lake in Spain. Multivariate analysis identified a continuum of life-history patterns between two extremes: 1) species with one or few spawnings per year, short breeding season, long generation time, large size, high fecundity, and no parental care. This set of life-history traits corresponded to the periodic life-history strategy described by Winemiller (1989) and Winemiller and Rose (1992); and 2) species with multiple spawnings per year, prolonged breeding season, short generation time, small size, low fecundity, parental care, and small to medium size of eggs. This association of life-history traits corresponded to the opportunistic life-history strategy described by Winemiller (1989) and Winemiller and Rose (1992). It seems that there were no apparent differences in life-history strategies between native and introduced species in Lake Banyoles. Native and introduced species were found among periodic and opportunistic strategists. Observed differences in the success of native and introduced species with comparable life-history strategies seems to suggest that the success of fish species in Lake Banyoles could not be explained on the basis of life-history features. Nevertheless, it seems that successful invasive species in Lake Banyoles display a suite of traits such as high fecundity, late maturity, and large body size. These characteristics may perhaps be viewed as biological predictors of successful invaders but more information is needed about life-history features of successful introduced species from other ecosystems.


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