Life History
The life history of fish has long been recognized as an important area of research for understanding both basic ecology of populations as well as for more sustainable yields from fisheries. This work goes beyond the classic approach utilizing von Bertalanffy's growth equation. In the 1950's, examples of basic insight into life history include Cole's theory of semelparity and, in the case of applied ecology, Beverton's insights into life history 'design'.
In recent years, fish life history has been an important research area at Harkness ~ Building on Beverton's Legacy. This project was funded as an NSERC strategic grant between faculty at the University of Toronto (Peter Abrams, Nick Collins) and OMNR scientists (Brian Shuter, Nigel Lester). Field research was conducted at a number of locations in Ontario, including Harkness and Algonquin Park. The purpose was to test new theoretical insights into fish life history based on the decomposition of the von Bertalanffy growth equation into more theoretically sound components. The components include age at maturity, juvenile growth, and sequential allocation of energy first to growth prior to maturation and then to reproductive investment. It includes a unique closed form estimator of the net reproductive rate. The theory was summarized in Lester et al. and model confirmation in Shuter et al.
- Lester, N.P., B.J. Shuter, and P.A. Abrams. 2004. Interpreting the von Bertalanffy model of somatic growth in fishes: the cost of reproduction. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 271: 1625-1631.
- Shuter, B.J., N.P. Lester, J. LaRose, C.F. Purchase, K. Vascotto, G. Morgan, N.C. Collins, and P.A. Abrams. 2005. Optimal life histories and food web position: linkages among somatic growth, reproductive investment, and mortality. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 62: 738-746.
A number of graduate students have completed their projects, some of whom worked out of Harkness. Results from the project are now coming out as graduate student theses and publications. Below is a list of graduate theses and primary publications stemming from this project. Harkness contributions are marked with an asterisk*.
Graduate Student Theses:
- *Dunlop, E. 2005. Patterns and processes of life history variation in the smallmouth bass, Micropterus dolomieu. Ph.D. thesis, University of Toronto.*
- LaRose, J. 2005. Variation in the growth and bioenergetics of Ontario's walleye (Sander vitreus) populations: studying the influence of prey abundance and size. M.Sc. Thesis, University of Toronto.
- *McDermid, J.L. 2007. Life history variation in lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush): genetic or phenotypic? Ph.D. thesis, University of Toronto.*
- Purchase, C.F. 2004. Influence of sexually dimorphic growth and environmental heterogeneity on intraspecifc life history traits. Ph.D. thesis, University of Toronto
- *Vascoto, K. 2006. An examination of the ecology of the cisco (Coregonus artedi) in Ontario lakes. Ph.D. thesis, University of Toronto.*
Publications:
- *Dunlop, E.S., and B.J. Shuter. 2006. Native and introduced populations of smallmouth bass differ in concordance between climate and growth. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 135: 1175-1190.*
- *Dunlop, E.S., B.J. Shuter, and M.S. Ridgway. 2005. Isolating the influence of growth rate on maturation patterns in the smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu). Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 62: 844-853.*
- *Dunlop, E.S., J.A. Orendorff, B.J. Shuter, F.H. Rodd, and M.S. Ridgway. 2005. Diet and divergence of introduced smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) populations. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 62: 1720-1732.*
- Lester, N.P., B.J. Shuter, and P.A. Abrams. 2004. Interpreting the von Bertalanffy model of somatic growth in fishes: the cost of reproduction. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 271: 1625-1631.
- *McDermid, J.L., P.E. Ihssen, W.N. Sloan, B.J. Shuter. 2007. Genetic and environmental influences on life history traits in lake trout. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (in press).*
- Purchase, C.F., N.C. Collins, and B.J. Shuter. 2005a. Sensitivity of maximum sustainable harvest rates to intraspecific life history variability of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) and walleye (Sander vitreus). Fisheries Research 72: 141-148.
- Purchase, C.F., N.C. Collins, G.E. Morgan, B.J. Shuter. 2005b. Sex-specific covariation among life history traits of yellow perch (Perca flavescens). Evolutionary Ecology Research 7: 549-566
- Purchase, C.F., N.C. Collins, G.E. Morgan, and B.J. Shuter. 2005c. Predicting life history traits of yellow perch from environmental characteristics of lakes. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 134: 1369-1381.
- Rennie, M.D., C.F. Purchase, N.P. Lester, N.C. Collins, B.J. Shuter, and P.A. Abrams. 2008. Lazy males? Bioenergetic differences in energy acquisition and metabolism help to explain sexual size dimorphism in perids. Journal of Animal Ecology 77: 916-926.
- *Shuter, B.J., N.P. Lester, J. LaRose, C.F. Purchase, K. Vascotto, G. Morgan, N.C. Collins, and P.A. Abrams. 2005. Optimal life histories and food web position: linkages among somatic growth, reproductive investment, and mortality. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 62: 738-746.*