Adjustment of Buoyancy and Excess Internal Pressure of Swimbladder Gases in Some North American Freshwater Fishes

Reanalysis of Mayden's data on distribution and relationships of North American freshwater fishes reveals weaknesses of the analytical protocol termed Brooks' Parsimony Analysis (BPA). Standard assumptions 2, 1, and 0 are explored with reference to suites of 3-area statements contained in cladograms of species. Component analysis proved effective for all assumptions for the freshwater fish data whereas BPA yielded results not optimal for any assumption. For Rosen's data on Heterandria and Xiphophoms, component analysis proved effective for assumption 2 whereas results from other methods proved effective for assumptions 1 and 0. Analysis of widespread species indicates that, when they are used to build area cladograms, they cause spurious results. Assumptions 1 and 0 are sensitive to these spurious effects.

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Characterization of elasticity patterns of North American freshwater fishes

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ◽

10.1139/f06-093 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 63 (9) ◽

pp. 2050-2066 ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Author(s):

Luis A Vélez-Espino ◽

Michael G Fox ◽

Robert L McLaughlin

Keyword(s):

Population Growth ◽

North American ◽

Growth Rates ◽

Freshwater Fishes ◽

Adult Survival ◽

Juvenile Survival ◽

Vital Rates ◽

Population Growth Rates ◽

North American Freshwater ◽

Trade Offs

We applied elasticity analysis to 88 North American freshwater fishes to assess the relative impacts of changes in the vital rates on asymptotic population growth. Variance in vital rates was summarized for four distinct functional groups: (i) species with population growth rates strongly sensitive to perturbations in adult survival; (ii) species with population growth rates sensitive to perturbations in overall survival; (iii) species with population growth rates most sensitive to perturbations in juvenile survival; and (iv) species with population growth rates sensitive to perturbations in juvenile survival and fecundity. The results of the present study also showed that (a) elasticity patterns cannot be inferred in a straightforward manner from trade-offs between life-history traits, (b) the sensitivity of a population's growth rate to changes in adult survival and fecundity can be predicted empirically from life span and age at maturity, respectively, (c) elasticities are highly conserved among genera within the same taxonomic family, and (d) there are key divergences between elasticity patterns of freshwater fish and other vertebrate taxa.

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Standard assumptions for biogeographica analysis

Australian Systematic Botany ◽

10.1071/sb9910041 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 41

Author(s):

G Nelson ◽

P Ladiges

Keyword(s):

Freshwater Fish ◽

North American ◽

Freshwater Fishes ◽

Component Analysis ◽

Parsimony Analysis ◽

Widespread Species ◽

North American Freshwater ◽

Analytical Protocol ◽

Spurious Results

Reanalysis of Mayden's data on distribution and relationships of North American freshwater fishes reveals weaknesses of the analytical protocol termed Brooks' Parsimony Analysis (BPA). Standard assumptions 2, 1, and 0 are explored with reference to suites of 3-area statements contained in cladograms of species. Component analysis proved effective for all assumptions for the freshwater fish data whereas BPA yielded results not optimal for any assumption. For Rosen's data on Heterandria and Xiphophoms, component analysis proved effective for assumption 2 whereas results from other methods proved effective for assumptions 1 and 0. Analysis of widespread species indicates that, when they are used to build area cladograms, they cause spurious results. Assumptions 1 and 0 are sensitive to these spurious effects.

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