A new proportionality-based back-calculation approach, which employs traditional forms of growth equations, improves estimates of length at age

作者：Ashworth Eloise C^*; Hesp S Alex; Hall Norman G

来源：Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 2017, 74(7): 1088-1099.

DOI：10.1139/cjfas-2016-0409

The performance of a new proportionality-based back-calculation approach, describing the relationship among length, otolith size, and age using traditional growth curves and assuming a bivariate distribution of deviations from those curves, was evaluated. Cross-validation was used for six teleost species to compare predictions of expected lengths or otolith sizes at age, given otolith size or length, respectively, with those of other proportionality-based approaches that incorporate age. For four species, and particularly Acanthopagrus butcheri when using a biological intercept, better estimates were produced using the new model than were produced using the regression equations in the other back-calculation approaches. Back-calculated lengths for A. butcheri estimated using this model were more consistent with observed lengths, particularly when employing a biological intercept, than those obtained using other proportionality-based approaches and also a constraint-based approach known to produce reliable estimates. By selecting somatic and otolith growth curves from a suite of alternatives to better describe the relationships among length, otolith size, and age, the new approach is likely to produce more reliable estimates of back-calculated length for other species.

• 出版日期2017-7