title: Stochastic population dynamics and life-history variation in marine fish species.
abstract: We examined whether differences in life-history characteristics can explain interspecific variation in stochastic population dynamics in nine marine fish species living in the Barents Sea system. After observation errors in population estimates were accounted for, temporal variability in natural mortality rate, annual recruitment, and population growth rate was negatively related to generation time. Mean natural mortality rate, annual recruitment, and population growth rate were lower in long-lived species than in short-lived species. Thus, important species-specific characteristics of the population dynamics were related to the species position along the slow-fast continuum of life-history variation. These relationships were further associated with interspecific differences in ecology: species at the fast end were mainly pelagic, with short generation times and high natural mortality, annual recruitment, and population growth rates, and also showed high temporal variability in those demographic traits. In contrast, species at the slow end were long-lived, deepwater species with low rates and reduced temporal variability in the same demographic traits. These interspecific relationships show that the life-history characteristics of a species can predict basic features of interspecific variation in population dynamical characteristics of marine fish, which should have implications for the choice of harvest strategy to facilitate sustainable yields.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Conservation Biology, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway. eirin.bjorkvoll@bio.ntnu.no
authors.forename: Eirin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bjørkvoll
authors.forename: Vidar
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Grøtan
authors.forename: Sondre
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aanes
authors.forename: Bernt-Erik
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Sæther
authors.forename: Steinar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Engen
authors.forename: Ronny
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aanes
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D005260:Female; D005399:Fishes / Q000254:growth & development*; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D011157:Population Dynamics; D013045:Species Specificity