Exploring the Relationship Between Physiological Performance and Reproductive Investment in Wild Fish Using Heart Rate Biologgers
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Given that reproductive behaviours involve high-energy activities, scientists have hypothesized that reproductive fitness is related to an organism's physiological performance. The present thesis explored this hypothesis by relating heart rate performance to parental care behaviour in smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu), and dominance behaviour in sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka). The results did not detect a relationship between overall heart rate performance and reproductive behaviour in either species. Instead, heart rate was found to follow a diel pattern irrespective of behaviour. It is therefore proposed that reproductive behaviour is mediated by the combined effects of intrinsic (e.g. hormones, cardiac performance) and extrinsic (e.g. photoperiod, predator burden) factors. Hence, this thesis demonstrates the complex relationship between cardiac performance and reproductive behaviours in wild fish. Future studies are required to explore the relationship between physiological performance and reproductive fitness to better understand mechanisms driving animal life history and evolutionary ecology in changing environments.
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Copyright © 2018 the author(s). Theses may be used for non-commercial research, educational, or related academic purposes only. Such uses include personal study, research, scholarship, and teaching. Theses may only be shared by linking to Carleton University Institutional Repository and no part may be used without proper attribution to the author. No part may be used for commercial purposes directly or indirectly via a for-profit platform; no adaptation or derivative works are permitted without consent from the copyright owner.
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- 2018
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