On September 25, 2015 I was awarded the Best Oral Presentation Award by an Early Career Scientists at the 2015 ICES Annual Science Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark for my talk, "The influence of life history variability on population connectivity: Development and application of a trait-based biophysical model of individuals." Receiving this award is a great honor and getting the opportunity to travel to Europe and learn about their vast history was a great experience. I would like to thank my mentor, Dr. Anna Neuheimer for all of her support and patience (she's just awesome), the C-MORE Scholars Program for funding this project and supporting me as a student and researcher, and the Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (JIMAR) for providing me a travel scholarship to attend the conference.
Title: The influence of life history variability on population connectivity: Development and application of a trait-based biophysical model of individuals. Abstract: Population connectivity estimates are needed to characterize environmental forcing pathways on productivity and allow for the development of successful management strategies. Past efforts employing physical forcing alone to model connectivity among reef fish populations have often been shown to be insufficient. Here we develop new modeling tools that combine biological processes with physical forcing to predict larval fish distribution and resulting population connectivity over time and space. Our model is individual-based, tracking individual fish from spawning to settlement and allowing for the inclusion of biologically relevant stochasticity (individual variability) in modelled processes. Our model is also trait-based, allowing individuals to vary in life history strategies, and mechanistically linking the resulting variability in connectivity predictions to underlying traits. We employ this model to first examine the influence of different reproductive (e.g. batch vs. constant spawners), development (e.g. pelagic larval duration), and behavioral (e.g. active vs. passive buoyancy control) traits on modeled connectivity estimates for larval reef fish around Hawai'i Island. We then apply our model to estimate connectivity for a model species (lau'ipala or yellow tang, Zebrasoma flavescens) and compare results to genetic-based observations of parent-offspring pair distribution.
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