Denney Nicola H, Jennings Simon, Reynolds John D
Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Pakefield Road, Lowestoft NR33 0HT, UK.
Proc Biol Sci. 2002 Nov 7;269(1506):2229-37. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2002.2138.
Theory predicts that populations of animals with late maturity, low fecundity, large body size and low body growth rates will have low potential rates of population increase at low abundance. If this is true, then these traits may be used to predict the intrinsic rate of increase for species or populations, as well as extinction risks. We used life-history and population data for 63 stocks of commercially exploited fish species from the northeast Atlantic to test relationships between life-history parameters and the rate of population increase at low abundance. We used cross-taxonomic analyses among stocks and among species, and analyses that accounted for phylogenetic relationships. These analyses confirmed that large-bodied, slow-growing stocks and species had significantly lower rates of recruitment and adult production per spawning adult at low abundance. Furthermore, high ages at maturity were significantly correlated with low maximum recruit production. Contrary to expectation, fecundity was significantly negatively related to recruit production, due to its positive relationship with maximum body size. Our results support theoretical predictions, and suggest that a simply measured life-history parameter can provide a useful tool for predicting rates of recovery from low population abundance.
理论预测，成熟晚、繁殖力低、体型大且身体生长速率低的动物种群，在数量稀少时种群增长的潜在速率也会很低。如果真是这样，那么这些特征或许可用于预测物种或种群的内在增长率以及灭绝风险。我们利用了东北大西洋63种商业开发鱼类种群的生活史和种群数据，来检验生活史参数与低丰度时种群增长速率之间的关系。我们在种群之间和物种之间进行了跨分类分析，并进行了考虑系统发育关系的分析。这些分析证实，体型大、生长缓慢的种群和物种在低丰度时的补充率和每个产卵成年个体的成年个体产量显著更低。此外，高成熟年龄与低最大补充产量显著相关。与预期相反，由于繁殖力与最大体型呈正相关，所以繁殖力与补充产量显著负相关。我们的结果支持理论预测，并表明一个简单测量的生活史参数可为预测从低种群丰度恢复的速率提供一个有用的工具。
