Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

A major challenge for ecologists and conservation biologists is to understand processes that shape variability among individuals and influence population abundances, particularly in response to natural and human-driven environmental change. The proposed research program explores these processes using Atlantic salmon, brown trout and Atlantic cod as model systems for experimental study. A range of approaches are involved, from controlled laboratory experiments to large-scale field experiments to molecular analyses that explore the expression of individual and population characteristics, particularly as they relate to reproduction. The aim is to more fully understand the linkages among reproductive behaviour, offspring success and the productivity of populations, and how this understanding may be applied to conservation biology and fisheries management. There are three main objectives to the research. The first is to explore why individual animals within a population may undertake completely different life histories. For example, why do some fish migrate to the ocean before they mature and others never leave fresh water? I propose to test this in Atlantic salmon and examine the benefits and costs of migration (growth, survival, reproduction and resources for offspring). The second objective is to understand why some fish produce large eggs and others small eggs, and how this affects the abundance of fish the next generation. An associated aim is to investigate why fish, such as Atlantic cod, produce different types of eggs during the course of the breeding season and what are the implications for offspring survival. The final objective is apply the knowledge garnered above to understand how species invade new environments, such as brown trout in Newfoundland, and how to better restore endangered populations, such as those of the Atlantic salmon in the Bay of Fundy.