TY - JOUR
T1 - Fish growth and degree-days I
T2 - Selecting a base temperature for a within-population study
AU - Chezik, Kyle A.
AU - Lester, Nigel P.
AU - Venturelli, Paul A
PY - 2014/1/10
Y1 - 2014/1/10
N2 - Degree-days (DD) are an increasingly popular method for explaining variation in fish growth and development. By including a base temperature (To) the DD formula limits calculations to temperatures that are relevant to growth. However, our review of growth studies shows multiple To values in use for a given fish species. To determine how To affects the ability of DD to explain within-population growth variation, we first show that the ability of DD to describe a growing season is robust to low values of To.We then analyze immature length data from eight species and 85 water bodies in North America to show that there is a broad range of To values that effectively explain growth variation. Based on these results, we argue that precise To estimates are unwarranted for most single-population studies and recommend standard To values (0, 5, 10, 15 °C). Standardization facilitates comparative studies and promotes the use of DD in future research. To this end, we provide equations for converting annual DD at a given To to annual DD at a standard To.
AB - Degree-days (DD) are an increasingly popular method for explaining variation in fish growth and development. By including a base temperature (To) the DD formula limits calculations to temperatures that are relevant to growth. However, our review of growth studies shows multiple To values in use for a given fish species. To determine how To affects the ability of DD to explain within-population growth variation, we first show that the ability of DD to describe a growing season is robust to low values of To.We then analyze immature length data from eight species and 85 water bodies in North America to show that there is a broad range of To values that effectively explain growth variation. Based on these results, we argue that precise To estimates are unwarranted for most single-population studies and recommend standard To values (0, 5, 10, 15 °C). Standardization facilitates comparative studies and promotes the use of DD in future research. To this end, we provide equations for converting annual DD at a given To to annual DD at a standard To.
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U2 - 10.1139/cjfas-2013-0295
DO - 10.1139/cjfas-2013-0295
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84891696952
SN - 0706-652X
VL - 71
SP - 47
EP - 55
JO - Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
JF - Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
IS - 1
ER -