Title: Welcome to Ecology of Fishes Laboratory Zoology 511
1Welcome to Ecology of Fishes LaboratoryZoology
511
2What is a Fish?
- Poikilothermic body temperature is identical to
surrounding water - Chordates have developmental characteristics of
all vertebrates - Appendages developed as fins
- Chief respiratory organs are gills
- Body generally covered with scales
- A fish is an aquatic vertebrate with gills and
with limbs in the shape of fins (Nelson 1994) - There are over 25,000 fish species, so there are
exceptions to these general characteristics.
3Fish vs. Fishes
This tank is full of fish.
The ocean is full of fishes.
4How fish are named
Common name, Genus species
speckled perch, specks, papermouth, bachelor
perch, calico bass, strawberry bass, or white
perch.
5Fish Ecology.?
Whats Ecology -is the study of the distribution
and abundance of living organisms and how the
distribution and abundance are affected by
interactions between the organisms and their
environment (Krebs).
6- In my analysis, the spectrum ranges from
ichthyology (evolution, taxonomy, structure and
function, and biogeography of fishes) fish
biology (metabolism, energetics, tolerances
sensory process, behavior, reproduction,
age/growth principles, demography, etc.) fish
ecology (generally relating fish to their biotic
environment at the individual, population,
community and ecosystem levels) fish assessment
(I say fish, instead of fishery, because we
sometimes need to assess non exploited
populations) that includes sampling methods
tagging, analysis of sampled data (e.g.
population size or structure) fishery resources
(global and regional fisheries and their
economic, sociological values (commercial and
recreational), gears, markets, etc. and finally
fishery management (how to analyze fisheries
(stock assessment, modeling, etc) and apply
everything else to manage exploited or protected
resources). PHEWWW! - An Excerpt from an email of Dr. Randy Edwards
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8Some definitions of terms youll hear
- Ichthyology (Fish biology) is the branch of
zoology devoted to the study of fish. - Fishery A fishery (plural fisheries) is an
organized effort by humans to catch fish or other
aquatic species, an activity known as fishing. - Fisheries Management The effort to regulate
where, when and how people fish, and how many
fish they catch, to protect fish populations so
that people can continue to fish. - Fisheries Science Think of fisheries science as
all the math behind fisheries management. That
is, how do you make informed decisions on how to
regulate people to protect fish populations? - All of these are incorporated into fish ecology
and fish ecology plays an important role in all
of the above!
9Anatomical terminology of a fish
Dorsal
Anterior
Lateral
Lateral
Posterior or caudal
Ventral
Conversely the mouth is anterior to the eye
10Fins of a fish
Dorsal
Caudal
Pectoral
Anal
Pelvic
Pelvic
Pectoral
11Bowfin (Amia calva)
Dorsal
Giant snakehead
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13Fins spines vs. rays
Black Crappie
Bluegill
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15Fish Scale Types
16Fish Scale Types
17Scutes on a sturgeon are a modification of scales
18Mouth placement
superior
terminal
vs.
inferior
19Premaxilla
Maxilla
20Internal anatomy the basics that help
understand the ecology!
Stomach
Swim bladder
Liver
Heart
Intestine
Ovary
Fat deposits
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22Gills and Gill Rakers
Gill filaments
Gill arch
Gill rakers
23Ecology influences anatomy
24Muskie
Walleye
Chinook Salmon
FISH WITH TEETH
Burbot
Not all Teeth are pointy! vomerine teeth
Longfinned Eel
25Barbels nothing is easier to identify!!
Yellow Bullhead
Brown Bullhead
Burbot
Burbot
26Oddballs Rostrum
27Measure anatomy to do ecological studies
28Enough lecture, lets look at some fish
29Why in the do we have to do all this writing
in our fishes course?
- Get lots of instruction on writingnot as much on
scientific writing, what is the difference? - Importance of being able to express your
thoughts, regardless of what career you choose - Research techniques are universal
- If you go on in science, it is the only currency
that matters?.......what do I mean by that?
30Peer Review?
- Criticism is importantconstructive criticism
is best! - Two types Internal and External. Point of
internal review is to make external review go
well - When you are reviewing someone elses work think
how you would want to be reviewed..You want to
do the best job you canbut you dont want to be
yelled at to do it! - You are going to do this for each other
31The paper process
- Observation or idea
- It looks like every time we catch white suckers,
we are sampling in a deeper portion of the
stream? - I wonder if the biomass of non-trout species is
related to the biomass of trout species? - Develop Hypothesis
- It looks like every time we catch white suckers,
we are sampling in a deeper portion of the
stream? - I wonder if the biomass of non-trout species is
related to the biomass of trout species? - Hit the literature
- What does everyone else have to say about this
32Where do you find information
- Web, Google and Google Scholar
- Online Databases
- Biological Abstracts
- ISI Web of Science
33Hypothesis Testing
- An educated guess or prediction about an
experiment, behavior, outcome, relationship etc. - Statistical Terms
- The null hypothesis (H0)
- fish growth 1 fish growth 2
- The alternative hypothesis (H1)
- fish growth 1 ? fish growth 2
34Order of a scientific paper (on paper)
- Title
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Methods study site, data analyses
- Results graphs, tables analyses
- Discussion
- Literature Cited
35Order you write a scientific paper
- Observe or Read primary literature
- Results start with a picture, tell your story
- Discussion whats cool about your story, also
relative to what other people found - Methods what did you do to get your results
- Introduction background on what you found
- Abstract just the highlights
- Title make it work for your story
- Literature Cited
36How to do the first step.....
- Observe or Read primary literature
- Use your fish from class
1. Web, Google and Google Scholar 2. Online
Databases Biological Abstracts ISI Web of
Science