SEASONAL VARIATION IN PATTERNS OF COMPENSATORY GROWTH IN ATLANTIC SALMON

• Main Authors: Neil B. Metcalfe, Colin D. Bull, Marc Mangel
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Atlantic salmon
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.576.7156; http://www-heb.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/congress/2000/Papers/variationpdf/metcalfe.pdf

This talk examines how evolution has shaped the interaction between animals and their food supply, so affecting their strategies of feeding, growth and resource allocation. In contrast to the resource allocation trade-off between reproductive and somatic tissues, that between growth and reserves has received little attention. In particular we address the problem faced by animals in a highly seasonal environment, where the food supply varies predictably over the course of the year as well as unpredictably from day to day. Here resources may have to be gathered at one time of year, to be used when conditions get more extreme. We consider how the allocation of those resources should vary both seasonally and when periods of reduced resource availability simultaneously cause depletion of reserves and a set-back in growth. The optimal strategy in this situation may be to exhibit seasonal variation in both the effort put into foraging (since intensive foraging in winter may be both risky and energetically expensive) and the relative allocation between reserve tissues and skeletal growth.