Spatial variation in growth, maturation schedules and reproductive investment of female sole Solea solea in the Northeast Atlantic (original) (raw)
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Fisheries-induced evolutionary changes in maturation reaction norms in North Sea sole Solea solea
Marine Ecology Progress Series, 2007
Age and size at maturation decreased in several commercially exploited fish stocks, which, according to life history theory, may be due to fisheries-induced evolutionary change. However, the observed changes may also represent a plastic response to environmental variability. To disentangle phenotypic plasticity from evolutionary change, the probabilistic reaction norm approach was applied to 43 cohorts (1960 to 2002) of female sole Solea solea from market samples. The reaction norm for age and size at first maturation has significantly shifted towards younger age and smaller size. Size at 50% probability of maturation at Age 3 decreased from 28.6 cm (251 g) to 24.6 cm (128 g). This change was even stronger when condition was included as a third dimension in the reaction norm estimation. The influence of alternative factors was tested on the population level by regression of reaction norm midpoints on annual estimates of condition, temperature and competitive biomass. Although effects of temperature and competitive biomass were significant, the variation in the midpoints was best explained by the decreasing time trend. Therefore, the results provide strong evidence for a fisheries-induced evolutionary change in the onset of sexual maturity.
Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 2014
Most ectotherms follow a pattern of size plasticity known as the temperature-size rule where 25 individuals reared in cold environments are larger at maturation than those reared in warm 26 environments. This pattern seems maladaptive because growth is slower in the cold so it takes 27 longer to reach a large size. However, it may be adaptive if reaching a large size has a greater 28 benefit in a cold than in a warm environment such as when size-dependent mortality or size-29 dependent fecundity depend on temperature. I present a theoretical model showing how a 30 correlation between temperature and the size-fecundity relationship affects optimal size at 31 maturation. I parameterize the model using data from a freshwater pulmonate snail from the 32 genus Physa. Nine families were reared from hatching in one of three temperature regimes 33 (daytime temperature of 22, 25, or 28ºC, nighttime temperature of 22ºC, under a 12L:12D light 34 cycle). Eight of the nine families followed the temperature size rule indicating genetic variation 35 for this plasticity. As predicted, the size-fecundity relationship depended upon temperature; 36 fecundity increases steeply with size in the coldest treatment, less steeply in the intermediate 37 treatment, and shows no relationship with size in the warmest treatment. Thus following the 38 temperature-size rule is adaptive for this species. Although rarely measured under multiple 39 conditions, size-fecundity relationships seem to be sensitive to a number of environmental 40 conditions in addition to temperature including local productivity, competition, and predation. If 41 this form of plasticity is as widespread as it appears to be, this model shows that such plasticity 42 has the potential to greatly modify current life-history theory. 43 44 Keywords: body size, fecundity, Physa, reproductive allometry, temperature-size rule 45 46 18 Arendt, J. and Fairbairn, D. 2012. Reproductive allometry does not explain the temperature-size 388 rule in water striders (Aquarius remigis). Evol. Ecol. 26: 745-757. 389 Atkinson, D. 1994. Temperature and organism size-a biological law for ectotherms? Adv. Ecol. 390 Res. 25: 1-58. 391 Atkinson, D. 1996. Ectotherm life-history responses to developmental temperature. In: Animals 392 and Temperature: phenotypic and evolutionary adaptation (I.
Fishes
Research on recruitment variability has gained momentum in the last years, undoubtedly due to the many unknowns related to climate change impacts. Knowledge about recruitment—the process of small, young fish transitioning to an older, larger life stage—timing and success is especially important for commercial fish species, as it allows predicting the availability of fish and adapting fishing practices for its sustainable exploitation. Predicting tools for determining the combined effect of temperature rise and food quality and quantity reduction (two expected outcomes of climate change) on early-life history traits of fish larvae are valuable for anticipating and adjusting fishing pressure and policy. Here we use a previously published and validated dynamic energy budget (DEB) model for the common sole (Solea solea) and adapt and use the same DEB model for the Senegalese sole (S. senegalensis) to predict the effects of temperature and food availability on Solea spp. early life-histo...
Ultimate and proximate factors affecting the breeding performance of a marine top-predator
Oikos, 2002
. Ultimate and proximate factors affecting the breeding performance of a marine Variability in ecosystems affects the life history of organisms. In marine ecosystems where interannual variability is high, relationships between fluctuations in oceanographic parameters and top-predator breeding performance are increasingly documented but it is less clear why such relationships exist. In this study, we examined the connections between marine environment fluctuations and breeding performance of a long-lived top-predator, the black-browed albatross Diomedea melanophris at Kerguelen, through study of resource acquisition and allocation processes. Our results show that this population used the same foraging zones and spent similar time foraging year after year, but adult body condition varied between years. Foraging trips are regulated mainly by changes in body condition. During years of low resource availability, birds return to their nest with lower body condition and adults in low body condition were more frequent and therefore were more likely to stop breeding. Poor breeding success was related to the presence of colder waters in the foraging zones of breeding albatrosses as measured by the positive correlation between sea surface temperatures and breeding success measured over 18 years. Lower breeding success was mainly due to failure by inexperienced birds. The results of this study demonstrate how oceanographic conditions affect breeding performance through allocation processes. We compared these results to those at South Georgia where the breeding success is lower and more variable. This population relies mainly on krill, a resource that shows a very variable year-to-year availability compared to fish prey consumed by Kerguelen birds. This study shows that, in the same species, differences in resource variability and availability affect the demographic strategies probably through differences in allocation strategies.
Ocean climate prior to breeding affects the duration of the nestling period in the Atlantic puffin
Biology Letters, 2006
Time-series covering 23 years for a long-lived seabird, the Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica L.) at Røst, northern Norway, was used to explore any indirect effects of climatic variations on chick production. By fitting statistical models on the duration of the nestling period, we found that it may be estimated using the average sea temperature and salinity at 0-20 m depth in March (having a positive and a negative effect, respectively). We propose that when the phytoplankton bloom occurs in early spring, adverse oceanographic conditions, i.e. low temperature and high salinity in March, have a negative effect on puffin reproduction by degradation of the prey availability (mainly Clupea harengus) for chick-feeding adults three months later.
Size at maturity and molting probability across latitude in female Cancer pagurus
Fisheries Research
Edible crab, Cancer pagurus, is a valuable North Atlantic fishery resource distributed from Morocco to northern Norway, covering a wide range of temperatures and other oceanographic variables. Knowledge on how local environmental conditions affect life history traits like maturity and growth in this species is however lacking, despite its importance in science-based management. Through analyses of field data and fishers' reports from different areas along the west coast of Norway (between 59°N and 69°N), latitudinal differences in size at onset of sexual maturity and molting probabilities of female C. pagurus were investigated. The size at which 50% of crabs were found to be mature (CW 50) did not differ between areas and was consistent with historical investigations, i.e. overall CW 50 : 112.3 mm, and CW 50 for each area/year between 108 and 117 mm. Generalized additive modelling was used to predict probability of molting (occurrence of soft crabs) during late summer/ autumn, with 'area' as a categorical variable, and 'day of year' and crab size as continuous non-linear predictors. The predictor variables had low explanatory power (16.4% deviance explained by full model), demonstrating the complexity of the process regulating molting. However, frequency of molting decreases and peak periods of molting occur later at higher latitudes, suggesting that lower temperatures have an impeding effect on growth in northern populations. Overall, our findings suggest that current minimum legal catch sizes for crabs in Norwegian waters are sufficient to restrict the catch of immature females, but that crabs in different geographical regions appear to be variably tolerant to fishing pressure following differences in growth.
Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 2010
Understanding the causes of contemporary variation in growth rates can offer insights into the likely consequences of climate change for growth and recruitment of coastal marine fishes. We examined the growth dynamics of age-0 northern rock sole ( Lepidopsetta polyxystra ) over four years in three nurseries at Kodiak Island, Alaska, USA. Following the settlement period, fish were sampled monthly (July–October) with a 3 m beam trawl at fixed-position transects. Postsettlement sizes were positively related to temperatures during the spawning and larval periods, suggesting environmental control of spawning or settlement timing. Summer growth on the nursery grounds varied significantly among sites and years (mean size 32.8–63.1 mm in mid-September), with the Holiday Beach site consistently supporting the fastest growth rates. Contrary to expectations of density dependence and thermal regulation, nursery ground growth rates were not significantly correlated with fish density or water tem...
Aquatic Living Resources, 2007
Tidal embayments in the Bay of Biscay (France) host nursery grounds where common sole, Solea solea, is the most abundant flatfish species. This study aimed to appraise the way those habitats function as nurseries through juvenile sole's responses in somatic growth and condition (Fulton's K) during their first year of occupancy. Field data, two yearly trawling series, taken monthly, were compared with a 6-month-long mesocosm experiment involving reared fish of the same wild origin. Growth rates were compared with predicted maximum growth according to an experimentally established model in relation to temperature. In the field, 0-group sole total length (TL) averaged 130 mm from September onwards in 1999 and 2000. Mean growth rates were 0.7-0.9 mm day −1 in summer and 0.1 mm day −1 in autumn, when the model predicted 1.4 and 0.9 mm day −1 , respectively. In the mesocosm, the growth rates were 0.9 and 0.4 mm day −1 for the same seasons and for stocking densities (300 fish 1000 m −2 ) about 10 times higher than usually recorded in the field. Wild sole remained in medium condition (K ca. 1 g cm −3 ) during the entire growing season, whereas they attained a higher K after being released into the mesocosm (1.2-1.3 g cm −3 ). During the mesocosm experiment, growth was shown to be primarily temperature-controlled: fish reached 150-160 mm (TL) in November. From this investigation, it can be concluded that sole's responses in condition and growth are altered over the whole growing season on nursery grounds. The situation is exacerbated in autumn when the sum of abiotic constraints increases as the competitive biomass does. This indicates impairment of the nursery functioning which, in the context of fish habitat conservation, emphasises the particular vulnerability of embayments to the addition of any further constraint.
Oceanologica Acta, 2000
Processes involved in both metamorphosis and settlement of young sole were studied at the population, cohort and individual level in order to evaluate their role in survival and recruitment regulation. Metamorphosis can be defined as a phase of variable duration (10 days on average) at the end of which the larval period of pelagic dissemination is completed. Size at the onset of metamorphosis is considerably less variable than age and is less plastic to environmental change. Metamorphosis is triggered by the acquisition of a competent size and a sufficient store of energy supplies, and occurs without a nutritional crisis or growth arrest. In addition, changes in organogenesis and behaviour that occur during metamorphosis seem to contribute to horizontal transfer, thus favouring a coastal accumulation. The initiation of estuarine colonization is controlled by the hydrological conditions in the bays and estuaries. In the northern part of the Bay of Biscay, metamorphosis does not seem to be a critical period in the life cycle of the sole. On the contrary, some of our observations suggest that it is a time of convergence, when the variability induced during the planktonic larval phase tends to decrease. It is suggested that metamorphosis initiates the processes which dampen variations of pre-recruitment number. © 2000 Ifremer/CNRS/IRD/É ditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS Solea solea / larva / juvenile / critical phase / estuarine colonisation Résumé -Métamorphose de la sole Solea solea (L.) et colonisation des nourriceries : implications sur la régulation du recrutement. Les modalités de métamorphose et de colonisation des nourriceries estuariennes ont été étudiées à l'échelle d'un individu, d'une cohorte et de la population. La métamorphose se définit comme une phase de durée variable (10 jours en moyenne) au terme de laquelle s'achève la dissémination larvaire. La taille au début de la métamorphose est beaucoup moins variable que l'âge : leurs coefficients de variation respectifs sont 0,08 et 0,2. La métamorphose se déclenche avec l'acquisition d'une taille et d'un stockage énergétique suffisants et elle se déroule sans crise nutritionnelle ni arrêt de croissance. Les changements morpho-anatomiques (p. ex. l'inflation de la vessie gazeuse) et comportementaux qui l'accompagnent semblent contribuer au transfert horizontal des juvéniles et, en fin de métamorphose, favoriser leur pénétration en zone cô tière et la colonisation des estuaires. Ce dernier processus est contrôlé par la structure hydrologique de l'estuaire, laquelle dépend du débit fluvial, du cycle de marée et du régime des vents. La colonisation peut être concentrée sur une seule * Correspondence and reprints: ramara@loalit.univ-littoral.fr 469 © 2000 Ifremer/CNRS/IRD/É ditions scientifiques et mé dicales Elsevier SAS PII: S 0 3 9 9 -1 7 8 4 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 1 3 4 -1/FLA More free publications from Archimer R. AMARA et al. / Oceanologica Acta 23 (2000) 469-484
Journal of Sea Research, 2003
Dover sole (Microstomus pacificus) have a wide distribution throughout the North Pacific, ranging from southern Baja California (26jN) to the Gulf of Alaska (GOA, 59jN). Prior to this study, our understanding of Dover sole reproductive biology was limited to the stock off the US west coast. This study was initiated to determine the length and age at maturity for Dover sole in the GOA. We also compared the length at maturity and growth rate across latitudes to test the hypothesis that individuals near the northern extent of their range (GOA stock) mature at a larger size than individuals in the southern stock off California and Oregon. Female Dover sole (n = 273) ranging in length from 198 -663 mm were collected opportunistically around Kodiak Island, Alaska, (55 -59jN) All ovaries were examined to determine the maturity stage using standard histological criteria. The spawning season of Dover sole in the GOA spanned at least 4 months, from February to May. Dover sole in the GOA matured at a larger size than those off California and Oregon, with an estimated length at 50% maturity (ML 50 ) of 439 mm. At the same fish length that nearly 100% of Dover sole from California and Oregon waters are mature, Dover sole in the GOA are just beginning to mature. The estimated age at 50% maturity (MA 50 ) for female Dover sole in the GOA was 6.7 years and was similar to the MA 50 for cohorts at more southern latitudes. We attribute the latitudinal variation in ML 50 , combined with the similar MA 50 across latitudes, to spatial differences in growth rates. Published by Elsevier B.V.