Evidence of selective mortality in coral reef fish

Información del proyecto

SELECTIVE MORTALITY

Identificador del acuerdo de subvención: 23870

Proyecto cerrado

Fecha de inicio 1 Septiembre 2005

Fecha de finalización 31 Agosto 2007

Financiado con arreglo a

• Human resources and Mobility in the specific programme for research, technological development and demonstration "Structuring the European Research Area" under the Sixth Framework Programme 2002-2006

Coste total

Sin datos

Aportación de la UE

Sin datos

Coordinado por

LABORATORY OF FUNCTIONAL AND EVOLUTIONARY MORPHOLOGY - UNIVERSITY OF LIEGE
Belgium

Objetivo

In marine organisms, larval recruitment plays a major role in determining the structure and stability of adult populations due to high larval mortality (decrease of ninety per cent of larval population within two first post-recruitment months). A special attention is paid in determining whether this mortality acts indiscriminately, with all larvae having similar chance of being removed from the population, or whether any particular phenotype is susceptible to mortality. The project explores the concept of selective mortality in using two coral reef fish species (Chromis viridis and Dascyllus aruanus) as models. A cohort of each species (i.e. larvae that recruit over a short period of time) is followed on the first two post-recruitment months. Mortality is estimated by looking at the decrease in the population abundance of the cohort, and growth, skeletal transformations, gut contents, condition index, predator density and the prevalence parasites are also measured to gain insight into the causes of larval mortality. The topic of selective mortality can be conducted on any coral island.

The last December, a tsunami in South-Asia caused the dead of thousands of people and destroyed their coral ecosystem. So, Prof. Vandewalle (supervisor of project) and me have decided to sample fish at the South-eastern part (degraded site by tsunami) and South-western part (no degraded site) of Sri Lanka. Moreover, to conduct the project at a large spatial scale, fish are also sampled at Moorea Island (French Polynesia), a "pristine" coral ecosystem. The study is then carried out in a Belgium Laboratory with fish sampling at Moorea and Sri Lanka.

Overall, the project responds to the objectives of Marie Curie fellowship: individual needs for complementary training (Belgium Lab oratory - technique of digital morphometry) and completing the expertise of applicant (ecology of coral reef fish at Moorea vs. Sri Lanka).

Ámbito científico (EuroSciVoc)

• ciencias sociales › sociología › demografía › mortalidad
• ciencias naturales › ciencias biológicas › ecología › ecosistemas
• ciencias naturales › ciencias biológicas › zoología › ictiología

Palabras clave

• Condition
• Coral reef fish
• Diet
• Moorea
• Mortality
• Skeletal transformations
• Sri Lanka

Programa(s)

• FP6-MOBILITY - Human resources and Mobility in the specific programme for research, technological development and demonstration "Structuring the European Research Area" under the Sixth Framework Programme 2002-2006

Tema(s)

• MOBILITY-2.1 - Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowships (EIF)

Convocatoria de propuestas

FP6-2002-MOBILITY-5
Consulte otros proyectos de esta convocatoria

Régimen de financiación

EIF - Marie Curie actions-Intra-European Fellowships

Coordinador

LABORATORY OF FUNCTIONAL AND EVOLUTIONARY MORPHOLOGY - UNIVERSITY OF LIEGE

• Aportación de la UE: Sin datos
• Dirección: Bélgica
• Coste total: Sin datos