Winter Biology of Wild Fish in a Multi-Stressor World

多重压力世界中野生鱼类的冬季生物学

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-06139
• 负责人: Cooke, Steven
• 金额: $ 5.68万
• 依托单位: Carleton University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=745658
• 关键词: Winter; Biology; Wild; Fish; Multi

The long-term goal of our Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Laboratory is to establish a clear understanding of the inter-relationships between the environment and individual-level physiology, behaviour and fitness. With support of our NSERC DG during the past five years our lab has made substantial progress in understanding stress in wild temperate fish during the spring and summer months.  Our research has generated new questions about stress in fish, many of which relate to winter, a naturally challenging period in the lives of many temperate freshwater fishes. Moreover, the winter conditions of many temperate lakes are rivers are changing even more rapidly than in summer as a result of environmental change. Our 5-yr goal, and the focus of this DG application, is to study the winter biology of wild fish in the context of a multi-stressor world, attempting to understand (1) determine the biotic and abiotic factors that influence how fish respond to winter-related challenges, and (2) understand the consequences of winter stressors on fish condition, behaviour, and fitness.   The scientific approaches that will be used test hypotheses will include extensive experimentation and comparative surveys in natural field (e.g., lakes, rivers) and mesocosm (e.g., experimental pond and stream) environments.  We will use a variety of models and rely heavily on non-lethal tissue sampling combined with electronic tagging to examine how various biotic (e.g., body size, species, nutritional state, disease state, stress responsiveness) and abiotic (e.g., habitat quality, availability of food) factors influence how fish respond to winter-related stressors (e.g., ice dynamics, hypoxia, timing of spring ice melt). In some experiments we will expose fish to varied holding environments (e.g., manipulating winter conditions mesocosms) to understand how stressors act alone or in combination. Endpoints will include bioenergetics, behaviour, and survival.  We will also examine the effects of winter stressors on fish condition, behaviour, survival, and reproduction. This work will include long-term monitoring of fish under experimental conditions across seasons and years to understand the latent effects of winter conditions on fish performance (i.e., seasonal carryover effects). The proposed research will enhance our understanding of ecological processes in the winter, particularly in the face of environmental change. Research on winter ecology is likely to be fruitful in terms of novel discoveries because it is a comparatively poorly studied and understood season, yet is widely thought to play an important role in structuring animal populations given the challenges it poses.  Our work will also provide much scope for training HQP with skills needed to solve complex problems while working across disciplinary boundaries. Beyond conducting research the HQP will learn about knowledge exchange, #scicomm, and collaborative teamwork.

我们鱼类生态和保护生理学实验室的长期目标是在过去五年我们实验室的 NSERC 总干事的支持下，建立对环境与个体生理、行为和健康之间相互关系的清晰理解。在了解野生温带鱼类在春季和夏季的压力方面取得了实质性进展，我们的研究提出了有关鱼类压力的新问题，其中许多与冬季有关，这是许多温带淡水鱼生活中自然具有挑战性的时期。由于环境变化，许多温带湖泊和河流的冬季条件变化比夏季更快。我们的 5 年目标，也是本 DG 应用的重点，是研究野生鱼类的冬季生物学。多压力世界，试图了解（1）确定影响鱼类如何应对冬季相关挑战的生物和非生物因素，以及（2）了解冬季压力对鱼类状况、行为和健康的影响。将使用的方法测试假设将包括在自然领域（例如湖泊、河流）和介域（例如实验池塘和溪流）环境中进行广泛的实验和比较调查，我们将使用各种模型，并严重依赖与电子相结合的非致命组织采样。标记以检查各种生物（例如体型、物种、营养状态、疾病状态、应激反应）和非生物（例如栖息地质量、食物供应）如何影响鱼类对环境的反应与冬季相关的压力源（例如，冰动态、缺氧、春季冰融化的时间）在一些实验中，我们将把鱼暴露在不同的饲养环境中（例如，操纵冬季条件中生态系统），以了解压力源如何单独或组合发挥作用。我们还将研究冬季应激源对鱼类状况、行为、生存和繁殖的影响。这项工作将包括在不同季节和年份的实验条件下对鱼类进行长期监测。了解冬季条件对鱼类性能的潜在影响（即季节性残留效应）。拟议的研究将增强我们对冬季生态过程的理解，特别是面对环境变化时，冬季生态学研究可能会取得丰硕成果。就新发现而言，因为这是一个研究和理解相对较少的季节，但考虑到它带来的挑战，人们普遍认为它在构建动物种群方面发挥着重要作用，我们的工作也将为培训 HQP 提供解决所需技能的广阔空间。复杂的问题同时除了进行研究之外，HQP 还将学习知识交流、#scicomm 和协作团队合作。