NPRB Use Only

• Main Author: Steven Porter
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bering Sea
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.498.9768; http://doc.nprb.org/web/09_prjs/926_app1_web.pdf

Marine measurement technology development Summary of Proposed Work: We propose to refine an assay for assessing the physiological condition of walleye pollock larvae using flow cytometry, and to apply it to larvae collected from the eastern Bering Sea. This assay builds on currently used methods, but represents a significant improvement.Walleye pollock recruitment in the eastern Bering Sea is poorly understood but the larval stage may be important. Starvation may significantly contribute to mortality during the larval stage and our project provides a relatively quick and simple way to monitor and quantify this. Our study has a laboratory component that completes the development of the assay, and a field component that applies the assay to walleye pollock larvae collected from the eastern Bering Sea. The assay consists of staining larval muscle cell nuclei, using a flow cytometer to determine the fraction of cells in the S and G2 phases of the cell cycle based on fluorescence of the nuclei, and then classifying the condition (healthy or unhealthy) of the larvae with a Discriminant Analysis model using cell cycle information, temperature, and larval size as variables. An advantage to using flow cytometry to assess condition is that many individual larvae can be analyzed over a short period of time. An improved understanding of the environmental processes affecting larval walleye pollock survival in the eastern Bering Sea will result from this project. Furthermore, this knowledge will enhance recruitment models used for managing the fishery and also expand our understanding of eastern Bering Sea ecology.