The number of fertilized and unfertilized eggs produced by M. beryllina individuals collected in Suisun Bay, California in spawning experiments.

Website: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/713302
Data Type: experimental
Version: 1
Version Date: 2017-08-04

Project
» Impacts of size-selective mortality on sex-changing fishes (Goby size-selection)
ContributorsAffiliationRole
White, J. WilsonUniversity of North Carolina - Wilmington (UNC-Wilmington)Principal Investigator, Contact
Brander, SusanneUniversity of North Carolina - Wilmington (UNC-Wilmington)Co-Principal Investigator
Ake, HannahWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI BCO-DMO)BCO-DMO Data Manager

Abstract
The number of fertilized and unfertilized eggs produced by M. beryllina individuals collected in Suisun Bay, California in spawning experiments.


Coverage

Spatial Extent: Lat:38.078633 Lon:-122.06896
Temporal Extent: 2013-06-25 - 2013-10-09

Dataset Description

The number of Menidia beryllina eggs spawned in each trial, organized by replicate tanks.


Methods & Sampling

Fish survey data were collected by beach seine in the Suisun Bay region of the San Francisco Bay-Delta by Susanne Brander and Bryan Cole. Sampling methodology is fully described in Brander et al. (2013).

Laboratory spawning trials were used to determine the relationship between sex ratio and egg production. Adult inland silversides were placed together in 95 liter circular tanks and allowed to spawn on an artificial spawning substrate (polyester yarn clumps). Substrate was removed daily and inspected for eggs; fertilization was determined by coloration. Full details are provided in White et al. (2017).


Data Processing Description

Scripts that were used to process these data can be found here: github.com/jwilsonwhite/IPM_statespace. Model code implements an explicit-sex, age-structured model that examines the effects of sex change (due to endocrine disruption) on fish populations. The code also fits a nonlinear mating function to laboratory spawning data, for use in parameterizing the model. All methodological details are provided in White et al. (2017).

BCO-DMO Data Processing Notes:

-dates were reformatted from mm/dd/yy to yyyy/mm/dd


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Data Files

File
eggs.csv
(Comma Separated Values (.csv), 946 bytes)
MD5:7e44891111de9ca6cddede6afe70871a
Primary data file for dataset ID 713302

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Related Publications

Brander, S. M., Connon, R. E., He, G., Hobbs, J. A., Smalling, K. L., Teh, S. J., … Cherr, G. N. (2013). From ‘Omics to Otoliths: Responses of an Estuarine Fish to Endocrine Disrupting Compounds across Biological Scales. PLoS ONE, 8(9), e74251. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0074251
Methods
White, J. W., Cole, B. J., Cherr, G. N., Connon, R. E., & Brander, S. M. (2017). Scaling Up Endocrine Disruption Effects from Individuals to Populations: Outcomes Depend on How Many Males a Population Needs. Environmental Science & Technology, 51(3), 1802–1810. doi:10.1021/acs.est.6b05276
Methods

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Parameters

ParameterDescriptionUnits
date

Date of trial; YYYY/MM/DD

unitless
trial

Trial number

unitless
tank

Aquarium tank for this fish

unitless
fert

Number of fertilized eggs collected

count
unfert

Number of unfertilized eggs collected

count
day

Day of trial; 1 or 2

unitless


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Instruments

Dataset-specific Instrument Name
Beach seine
Generic Instrument Name
Purse-seine Fishing Gear
Dataset-specific Description
Used to collect samples
Generic Instrument Description
A purse seine is a large wall of netting deployed in a circle around an entire school of fish. The seine has floats along the top line with a lead line of chain along the bottom. Once a school of fish is located, a skiff pulls the seine into the water as the vessel encircles the school with the net. A cable running along the bottom is then pulled in, "pursing" the net closed on the bottom, preventing fish from escaping by swimming downward. The catch is harvested by bringing the net alongside the vessel and brailing the fish aboard.


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Deployments

White_2012

Website
Platform
shoreside Calif_shore
Start Date
2009-03-20
End Date
2013-10-09
Description
Menidia beryllina individuals were collected from Suisan Bay, California for spawning experiments. 


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Project Information

Impacts of size-selective mortality on sex-changing fishes (Goby size-selection)

Coverage: Southern California, Santa Catalina Island


Description from NSF award abstract:
Many marine fish species change sex during their lifetimes, and many of them are targets of commercial and recreational fishing. The timing of sex change in these animals is often related to body size, so populations typically consist of many small fish of the initial sex (usually female) and few large fish of the other sex (usually male). In nature, smaller fish are at a greater risk of mortality due to predation, but fishermen tend to seek larger fish. Thus fishing that targets larger individuals may skew sex ratios, removing enough of the larger sex to hinder reproduction. However, the extent to which size-selective mortality affects sex-changing fishes is poorly understood. This research will explore the effects of size-selective mortality on the population dynamics of sex-changing species using an integrated set of field experiments and mathematical models. It will provide the first experimental exploration of the sensitivity of different sex-change patterns and reproductive strategies to selective mortality. The results will advance our knowledge of the susceptibility and resilience of sex-changing organisms to different types of size-selective mortality and will reveal how sex-changing species can recover after size-selection ceases, as in populations within marine reserves where fishing is suddenly prohibited. The findings will inform fisheries management policies, which do not currently consider the ability of a species to change sex in setting fisheries regulations.

This project will consist of a three-year study of the effects of size-specific mortality on sex-changing fishes. Field experiments will use three closely related rocky-reef fishes that differ in sex-change pattern and are amenable to field manipulation and direct measurement of reproductive output. The species include a protogynous hermaphrodite (a female-to-male sex-change pattern common among harvested species) and two simultaneous hermaphrodites that differ in their ability to switch between male and female. Two types of experiments will be conducted on populations established on replicate patch reefs at Santa Catalina Island, California: (1) sex ratios will be manipulated to determine when the scarcity of males limits population-level reproductive output; and (2) experiments cross-factoring the intensity of mortality with the form of size-selection (i.e., higher mortality of large or small individuals) will test the demographic consequences of size-selective mortality. In concert with the field experiments, size- and sex-structured population models (integral projection models) will be developed for use in three ways: (1) to evaluate how different types of selective mortality should affect population dynamics; (2) to predict outcomes of the field experiments, testing/validating the model and allowing direct prediction of the ecological significance of short-term selection; and (3) to fit to existing survey data for a fourth species, a widely fished, sex-changing fish, inside and outside of marine reserves. Part (3) will evaluate whether and how quickly the mating system and reproductive output of that species (not directly measurable in the field) is recovering inside reserves. This integrated set of field experiments and models will yield novel insight into the effects of size-selective mortality on the population dynamics of sex-changing marine species.



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Funding

Funding SourceAward
NSF Division of Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE)

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