Interannual growth variation in fish and tree rings

Abstract

Interannual growth variations were compared among neighbouring populations of lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) and white spruce (Picea glauca), white pine (Pinus strobus), and red pine (Pinus resinosa). Measures of growth were obtained by removing long-term trends from widths of rings in the hard tissues of both aquatic and terrestrial organisms and assembling these measures into growth chronologies. Interannual growth variations were negatively correlated (r) between sturgeon and nearby tree population chronologies for those fish populations that displayed strong interseries correlation (r ). The three sturgeon population chronologies developed from individuals that displayed the lowest interseries correlation coefficients failed to display significant correlation with tree growth. The results of this investigation indicate that the negative relationships between fish and tree growth may be related to annual fluctuations in air temperature. In general, fish population chronologies displayed positive correlation with measures of air temperature during the current season of growth, while tree population chronologies displayed negative correlation with air temperatures from either the current or the previous season of growth.Résumé : Nous avons comparé les variations interannuelles de la croissance entre des populations voisines d'esturgeon jaune (Acipenser fulvescens) et d'épinette blanche (Picea glauca), de pin blanc (Pinus strobus) et de pin rouge (Pinus resinosa). Nous avons obtenu les mesures de la croissance en éliminant les tendances à long terme de la largeur des anneaux dans les tissus durs des organismes tant terrestres qu'aquatiques, et en assemblant ces mesures en chronologies de croissance. Les variations interannuelles de la croissance étaient négativement corrélées (r) entre les chronologies de l'esturgeon et des populations d'arbres voisines pour les populations de poissons qui présentaient une forte corrélation interséries (r ). Les trois chronologies de populations de poissons construites à partir des individus qui présentaient les plus bas coefficients de corrélation interséries n'ont pas présenté de corrélation significative avec la croissance des arbres. Les résultats de notre étude indiquent que les relations négatives entre la croissance des poissons et celle des arbres peuvent être liées à des fluctuations annuelles de la température de l'air. En général, les chronologies des populations de poissons présentaient une corrélation positive avec les mesures de la température de l'air pendant la saison de croissance en cours, alors que les chronologies des populations d'arbres montraient une corrélation négative avec les températures de l'air tant pendant la saison en cours que pendant la saison précédente de croissance.[Traduit par la Rédaction] 2356LeBreton and Beamish

Long-term increases in young-of-the-year growth of Arctic cisco Coregonus autumnalis and environmental influences

“…The best supported correlation between temperature and YOY growth was in March with a 2 year lag as indicated by high predictive power, low P ‐value and synchronous correlations with other predictive variables. Given the strong relationship between temperature and growth documented in numerous studies (Neilson & Geen, 1985; Rogers & Ruggerone, 1993; LeBreton & Beamish, 2000) and previous studies showing that C. autumnalis preferred and grew more rapidly in the upper limits of the natural summer temperature range (11–16° C; Fechhelm et al , 1983, 1997; Griffiths et al , 1992), stronger unlagged correlations between YOY growth and temperature were expected. Although Murphy et al (2007) found strong correlations between summer air temperatures and sea‐surface temperatures, the weak correlations between YOY growth and temperature could indicate that air temperature is a poor proxy for water temperature experienced by YOY fish or that other factors influencing productivity were more limiting to growth.…”

Impacts of drought and predicted effects of climate change on fish growth in temperate Australian lakes

“…Patterns in otolith increment chronologies have successfully been correlated to a number of environmental variables in freshwater (e.g. Guyette & Rabeni, 1995; LeBreton & Beamish, 2000) and marine fish (Thresher et al , 2007; Black, 2009). Here, we use chronologies from two populations to investigate correlations between interannular growth variation and a suite of hydrologic and climatic variables.…”

Climate–growth relationships for largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) across three southeastern USA states

“…Studies of the Holarctic pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera) and ocean quahog (Arctica islandica) in Europe, and on the freshwater mussels in North America have also linked growth variations to diverse climate conditions (Witbaard 1996;Schöne et al 2003Schöne et al , 2004Dunca et al 2005;Rypel et al 2008). Other studies have used tree-ring approaches to illustrate the complex relationships between growth and climate that characterise neighbouring ⁄ connected riparian and riverine ecosystems (Guyette & Rabeni 1995;LeBreton & Beamish 2000a;Drake & Naiman 2007;Rypel et al 2009).…”