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- Title
Evidence for bluegill spawning plasticity obtained by disentangling complex factors related to recruitment.
- Authors
Kaemingk, Mark A.; Stahr, Kristopher J.; Jolley, Jeffrey C.; Holland, Richard S.; Willis, David W.; Jonsson, Bror
- Abstract
Fishes can exhibit many forms of plasticity to maximize fitness. However, limited information exists on the ability of freshwater fish to adjust spawning behavior and characteristics (e.g., timing, duration, magnitude of spawning events) to minimize mortality of recruits and ultimately maximize fitness. We wanted to test the life history hypothesis for bluegill ( Lepomis macrochirus) (i.e., opportunistic strategy) utilizing existing literature and results from our study to further evaluate the potential for spawning plasticity in this species. Our objective was to identify bluegill recruitment bottlenecks (i.e., periods of high mortality) and factors associated with these events in a single lake during 7 consecutive years. Bluegills exhibited shorter spawning durations and fewer spawning pulses (i.e., peaks in larval production) compared with bluegill in previous studies. Late-hatched (compared with early-hatched) bluegills consistently contributed the most to the fall juvenile population; these recruitment patterns were primarily attributed to biotic drivers. Our study suggests that bluegill could exhibit spawning plasticity and extends our current understanding of adaptations that are potentially capable of increasing fitness for a freshwater fish species under a wide range of environmental conditions and uncertainty.
- Subjects
BLUEGILL; MATERIAL plasticity; PHYSICAL fitness; FRESHWATER fishes; SPAWNING; LIFE history theory
- Publication
Canadian Journal of Fisheries & Aquatic Sciences, 2014, Vol 71, Issue 1, p93
- ISSN
0706-652X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1139/cjfas-2013-0282