Contribution of a bioenergetics model to investigate the growth and survival of European seabass in the Bay of Biscay - English Channel area

• Published in: Ecological Modelling
• Main Authors: Dambrine, Chloe, Huret, Martin, Woillez, Mathieu, Pecquerie, Laure, Allal, Francois, Servili, Arianna, Pontual, Helene, De
• Other Authors: Unité Sciences et Technologies Halieutiques (STH), Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Environnement Marin (LEMAR) (LEMAR), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer (IUEM), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), MARine Biodiversity Exploitation and Conservation (UMR MARBEC), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: Dicentrarchus labrax; Northeast Atlantic; Dynamic Energy Budget theory; Growth; Starvation Early-life stages; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; [SDV.BA.ZV]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology/Vertebrate Zoology
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02921206; https://hal.science/hal-02921206/document; https://hal.science/hal-02921206/file/1-s2.0-S030438002030079X-main.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2020.109007

Place: Amsterdam Publisher: Elsevier WOS:000525397200005 International audience The European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) is a species of particular ecological and economic importance. Stock assessments have recently revealed the worrying state of the "Northern stock", probably due to overfishing and a series of poor recruitments. The extent to which these poor recruitments are due to environmental variability is difficult to assess, as the processes driving the seabass life cycle are poorly known. Here we investigate how food availability and temperature may affect the growth and survival of wild seabass at the individual scale. To this end, we developed a bioenergetics model based on the Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) theory. We applied it to seabass population of the Northeast Atlantic region (Bay of Biscay - English Channel area) throughout their entire life cycle. We calibrated the model using a combination of age-related length and weight datasets: two were from aquaculture experiments (larvae and juveniles raised at 15 and 20 degrees C) and one from a wild population (juveniles and adults collected during surveys or fish market sampling). By calibrating the scaled functional response that rules the ingestion of food and using average temperature conditions experienced by wild seabass (obtained from tagged individuals), the model was able to reproduce the duration of the different stages, the growth of the individuals, the number of batches and their survival to starvation. We also captured one of the major differences encountered in the life traits of the species: farmed fish mature earlier than wild fish (3 to 4 years old vs. 6 years old on average for females, respectively) probably due to better feeding conditions and higher temperature. We explored the growth and survival of larvae and juveniles by exposing the individuals to varying temperatures and food levels (including total starvation). We show that early life stages of seabass have a strong capacity to deal with food deprivation: the model ...