• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2003
• Subjects: Allee effect; Atlantic cod; conservation; depensation; fertilization; mate choice; mate competition; mating system; atlantic cod
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.523.2781; http://myweb.dal.ca/jhutch/publications_pdfs/2004_row_hut_ices.pdf

success and consequent reduced production of offspring. We explore the empirical basis of one of these in Atlantic cod using egg fertilization and male abundance data obtained from 21 experimental populations generated by three independent research programmes. We find ICES Journal of Marine Science, 61: 1144e1150 (2004)support for the hypotheses that (a) fertilization rate declines with abundance and (b) variance in fertilization rate increases as population size declines. The former identifies one potential mechanism underlying depensation in Atlantic cod. The latter has negative genetic consequences for effective population size (Ne), resulting in a decline in the ratio of Ne to census population size (Ne/Nc) with declining abundance. Our results may have general implications for the conservation biology of broadcast-spawning marine fish, particularly those with mating systems similar to that of Atlantic cod.