Life History Strategies of Fishes

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Fitness Strategies of Recent Fishes
Rainer Froese IfM-GEOMAR
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Content

• Definitions
• Phylogeny of fishes
• Choice of key traits
• Recent combinations of traits
• Life history strategies by Phylogeny
• Life history strategies by Environment
• Discussion

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Definitions

• Fitness strategy
• a combination of traits
• that maximizes survival
• and reproductive success
• of individuals of a given species
• in a given environment

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Classes of Fishes
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Phylogeny
Classes Orders Families Genera Species
Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) 45 467 4,573 27,271
Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fishes) 3 4 4 11
Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) 11 44 175 961
Holocephali (chimaeras) 1 3 6 37
Cephalaspidomorphi (lampreys) 1 2 9 42
Myxini (hagfishes) 1 1 7 66
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Key Trait Size
small
medium
large
very large
23,603 species
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Key Trait Trophic Level
herbi- vore
omnivore
low-level predator
mid-level predator
top- predator
7,161 species
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Key Trait Productivity(modified after Musick
1999)
Parameter High Medium Low Very low
rmax (1/year) gt 0.5 0.16 0.50 0.05 0.15 lt 0.05
td (years) lt1.4 1.4 - 4.4 4.5 - 14 gt 14
Interest rate () gt 65 17 65 5 - 16 lt 5
K (1/year) gt 0.3 0.16 0.30 0.05 0.15 lt 0.05
Fecundity (1/year) gt 10,000 100 1000 10 100 lt 10
tm (years) lt 1 2 4 5 10 gt 10
tmax (years) 1 3 4 10 11 30 gt 30
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Key Traits Productivity
Productivity Species Percent
Very low 263 10.5
Low 1016 40.5
Medium 879 25.0
High 353 14.0
2,511 species
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Trait Correlation Size vs Troph
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Trait Correlation Size vs Productivity
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Trait Correlation Trophic Level vs Productivity
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Phylogeny Limits Traits Size
very large
large
medium
small
Hagfish
Chimaeras
Lobe-finned
Lampreys
Sharks rays
Ray-finned
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Phylogeny Limits Traits Troph
Hagfish
Chimaeras
Lobe-finned
Lampreys
Sharks rays
Ray-finned
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Phylogeny Limits Traits Productivity
Class Productivity Species Percent
Myxini Low 66 100
Cephalaspidomorphi Low 16 36
Medium 2 5
Holocephali Low 37 100
Elasmobranchii Very low 206 21
Low 528 55
Sarcopterygii Very low 10 91
Actinopterygii Very low 47 0.2
Low 369 1.4
Medium 877 3.2
High 353 1.3
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Phylogeny Limits Fitness Strategies
Class Trophic group Size Productivity Species
Myxini Low-level predator Medium Low 1
Large Low 4
Mid-level predator Medium Low 1
Top predator Large Low 3
Cephalaspidomorphi Herbivore Medium Low 3
Omnivore Medium Low 1
Low-level predator Medium Low 2
Large Low 1
Mid-level predator Medium Low 1
Top predator Medium Low 1
Large Low 3
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Phylogeny Limits Fitness Strategies
Class Trophic group Size Productivity Species
Holocephali Low-level predator Large Low 10
Mid-level predator Large Low 4
Sarcopterygii Low-level predator Large Very low 4
Mid-level predator Large Very low 1
Top predator Large Very low 1
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Phylogeny Limits Fitness Strategies
Elasmobranchii Low-level predator Medium Very low 2
Low 5
Large Very low 46
Low 71
Very large Very low 3
Mid-level predator Medium Very low 4
Low 3
Large Very low 48
Low 74
Very large Very low 6
Low 3
Top predator Medium Low 5
Large Very low 41
Low 39
Very large Very low 13
Low 8
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Phylogeny Limits Fitness Strategies
Actinopterygii Herbivore Medium Medium 25
High 16
Large Low 12
Medium 22
High 4
Omnivore Small High 3
Medium Low 3
Medium 22
High 38
Large Low 11
Medium 24
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Phylogeny Limits Fitness Strategies
Actinopterygii Low-level predator Small Medium 5
High 17
Medium Very low 1
Low 22
Medium 182
High 173
Large Very low 18
Low 106
Medium 184
High 11
Very large Very low 5
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Phylogeny Limits Fitness Strategies
Actinopterygii Mid-level predator Medium Low 2
Medium 37
High 12
Large Very low 2
Low 56
Medium 99
High 3
Very large Very low 1
Top predator Medium Medium 15
High 6
Large Very low 8
Low 60
Medium 87
High 9
Very large Very low 1
Low 5
Medium 4
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Expanding the Database Trophic Level
Top
Medium
Low
Trophic level of 97 species of Genus Epinephelus
as a function of their body length.
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Expanding the Database Productivity (K)
High
Medium
Low
Very low
Von Bertalanffy growth parameter K plotted over
maximum length for Family Serranidae
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Fitness Strategies of Herbivores
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Fitness Strategies of Omnivores
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Fitness Strategies of Low-level Predators
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Fitness Strategies of High-level Predators
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Still To Do

• Fitness Strategies versus
• Salinity
• Temperature / Climate Zone
• Type of Ecosystem (River, Lake, Reef, Demersal,
  Pelagic, Seamount, Deep-Sea)
• Zoogeographic Realms
• Oceans

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Size vs Salinity
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Trophic Level vs Salinity
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Size vs Mean Temperature
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Size vs Climate Zone
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Size vs Zoogeographic Realm
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Size vs Ocean
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Thanks to the FishBase Team
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Thanks to the FishBase Consortium
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Thanks to our Donors
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Thank You

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