Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Size Structure, Age-Size Dynamics and Life History Variation

Event Name/Location

International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Annual Science Conference, Halifax, Canada, September 22-26, 2008

Presentation Date

2008

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Keywords

Dimensionless numbers, Growth trajectory, Life-history invariants, Mortality

Description

Here we present a new technique to study life history variation when only length distributions of populations are known. Shape of length distribution in a population is to a significant extent determined by the degree to which an average individual approaches its asymptotic maximum size. Statistically, the shape of a length can be characterised by its skewness, measuring the degree of symmetry in the distribution. Positive skew (long right tail) in a length distribution suggests that relative few individuals survive long enough to approach asymptotic size in a population, whereas the opposite is true for negative skew (long left tail). With a simple model of age-size dynamics in a population showing indeterminate growth, we show that skewness is strongly correlated with the ratio between mortality rate and the growth parameter k in the von Bertalanffy growth model; this ratio is a dimensionless number that is one of Beverton’s ‘life history statics’. We demonstrate the new technique with data from deep-pelagic fishes collected during the 2004 Mar-Eco expedition along the northern Mid- Atlantic Ridge.

Comments

F13: 1-7

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