Fish/Fisheries Conservation Lab, University of South Carolina Aiken, Aiken, SC, United States of America.
University of South Carolina, Marine Sciences, Columbia, SC, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2021 May 12;16(5):e0251442. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251442. eCollection 2021.
Reef fishes support important fisheries throughout the Caribbean, but a combination of factors in the tropics makes otolith microstructure difficult to interpret for age estimation. Therefore, validation of ageing methods, via application of Δ14C is a major research priority. Utilizing known-age otolith material from north Caribbean fishes, we determined that a distinct regional Δ14C chronology exists, differing from coral-based chronologies compiled for ageing validation from a wide-ranging area of the Atlantic and from an otolith-based chronology from the Gulf of Mexico. Our north Caribbean Δ14C chronology established a decline series with narrow prediction intervals that proved successful in ageing validation of three economically important reef fish species. In examining why our north Caribbean Δ14C chronology differed from some of the coral-based Δ14C data reported from the region, we determined differences among study objectives and research design impact Δ14C temporal relationships. This resulted in establishing the first of three important considerations relevant to applying Δ14C chronologies for ageing validation: 1) evaluation of the applicability of original goal/objectives and study design of potential Δ14C reference studies. Next, we determined differences between our Δ14C chronology and those from Florida and the Gulf of Mexico were explained by differences in regional patterns of oceanic upwelling, resulting in the second consideration for future validation work: 2) evaluation of the applicability of Δ14C reference data to the region/location where fish samples were obtained. Lastly, we emphasize the application of our north Caribbean Δ14C chronology should be limited to ageing validation studies of fishes from this region known to inhabit shallow water coral habitat as juveniles. Thus, we note the final consideration to strengthen findings of future age validation studies: 3) use of Δ14C analysis for age validation should be limited to species whose juvenile habitat is known to reflect the regional Δ14C reference chronology.
礁鱼在整个加勒比地区支持着重要的渔业，但热带地区的多种因素使得耳石微观结构难以解释年龄估算。因此，通过应用 Δ14C 对年龄测定方法进行验证是一个主要的研究重点。我们利用北加勒比鱼类的已知年龄耳石材料，确定了存在明显的区域 Δ14C 年表，与为年龄验证编制的、来自大西洋广泛地区的珊瑚年表以及来自墨西哥湾的耳石年表不同。我们的北加勒比 Δ14C 年表建立了一个具有狭窄预测区间的下降序列，该序列在对三种具有重要经济价值的礁鱼的年龄验证中取得了成功。在研究为什么我们的北加勒比 Δ14C 年表与该地区报告的一些珊瑚 Δ14C 数据不同时，我们确定了研究目标和研究设计的差异会影响 Δ14C 的时间关系。这导致确定了应用 Δ14C 年表进行年龄验证的三个重要考虑因素中的第一个：1）评估潜在 Δ14C 参考研究的原始目标/目的和研究设计的适用性。接下来，我们确定我们的 Δ14C 年表与佛罗里达州和墨西哥湾的年表之间的差异是由海洋上升流的区域模式差异造成的，这导致了未来验证工作的第二个考虑因素：2）评估 Δ14C 参考数据在鱼类样本获取的区域/地点的适用性。最后，我们强调应将我们的北加勒比 Δ14C 年表的应用仅限于在已知幼鱼栖息于浅海水域珊瑚的该地区的鱼类的年龄验证研究中。因此，我们注意到加强未来年龄验证研究结果的最后一个考虑因素：3）将 Δ14C 分析用于年龄验证应限于其幼鱼栖息地已知反映区域 Δ14C 参考年表的物种。
