Summary This study presents a historical review, a meta-analysis, and recommendations for users about weight–length relationships, condition factors and relative weight equations. The historical review traces the developments of the respective concepts. The meta-analysis explores 3929 weight–length relationships of the type W ¼ aL b for 1773 species of fishes. It shows that 82% of the variance in a plot of log a over b can be explained by allometric versus isometric growth patterns and by different body shapes of the respective species. Across species median b ¼ 3.03 is significantly larger than 3.0, thus indicating a tendency towards slightly positive-allometric growth (increase in relative body thickness or plumpness) in most fishes. The expected range of 2.5 < b < 3.5 is confirmed. Mean estimates of b outside this range are often based on only one or two weight–length relationships per species. However, true cases of strong allometric growth do exist and three examples are given. Within species, a plot of log a vs b can be used to detect outliers in weight–length relationships. An equation to calculate mean condition factors from weight–length relationships is given as Kmean ¼ 100aL b)3 . Relative weight Wrm ¼ 100W/ (amL b m ) can be used for comparing the condition of individuals across populations, where am is the geometric mean of a and bm is the mean of b across all available weight–length relationships for a given species. Twelve recommendations for proper use and presentation of weight–length relationships, condition factors and relative weight are given.

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Cube law, condition factor and weight-length relationships: history, meta-analysis and recommendations

The author challenges the traditional approach to dealing with uncertainty in the management of such renewable resources as fish and wildlife. He argues that scientific understanding will come from the experience of management as an ongoing, adaptive, and experimental process, rather than through basic research or the development of ecological theory. 

The opening chapters review approaches to formulating management objectives as well as models for understanding how policy choices affect the attainment of these objectives. Subsequent chapters present various statistical methods for understanding the dynamics of uncertainty in managed fish and wildlife populations and for seeking optimum harvest policies in the face of uncertainty. The book concludes with a look at prospects for adaptive management of complex systems, emphasizing such human factors involved in decision making as risk aversion and conflicting objectives as well as biophysical factors. Throughout the text dynamic models and Bayesian statistical theory are used as tools for understanding the behavior of managed systems. These tools are illustrated with simple graphs and plots of data from representative cases. 

This text/reference will serve researchers, graduate students, and resource managers who formulate harvest policies and study the dynamics of harvest populations, as well as analysts (modelers, statisticians, and stock assessment experts) who are concerned with the practice of policy design.

http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/bay_delta/docs/cmnt081712/dfg/cdfgwalters1986.pdf

Adaptive Management of Renewable Resources

Genes differentially expressed in different tissues, during development, or during specific pathologies are of foremost interest to both basic and pharmaceutical research. "Transcript profiles" or "digital Northerns" are generated routinely by partially sequencing thousands of randomly selected clones from relevant cDNA libraries. Differentially expressed genes can then be detected from variations in the counts of their cognate sequence tags. Here we present the first systematic study on the influence of random fluctuations and sampling size on the reliability of this kind of data. We establish a rigorous significance test and demonstrate its use on publicly available transcript profiles. The theory links the threshold of selection of putatively regulated genes (e.g., the number of pharmaceutical leads) to the fraction of false positive clones one is willing to risk. Our results delineate more precisely and extend the limits within which digital Northern data can be used.

/pdf/the-significance-of-digital-gene-expression-profiles-3ds6e764o8.pdf

The Significance of Digital Gene Expression Profiles

A compilation of values for the exponential coefficient of natural mortality (M) is given for 175 different stocks of fish distributed in 84 species, hath freshwater and marine, and ranging from polar to tropical waters. Values of Loo(LT, em), W\",,(g, fresh weight), K (l/year) and T (ec, mean annual water temperature) were attributed to each value of M, and the 175 sets of values plotted such that:

On the interrelationships between natural mortality, growth parameters, and mean environmental temperature in 175 fish stocks

The part of Cole’s article included here outlines the relationship of Thompson’s work (1931, paper 20 above) to stable population theory. Omitted sections discuss the relationships between the rate of increase, numbers and spacing of offspring, and age structure, with their implications for species survival.

The population consequences of life history phenomena.

Computation and interpretation of biological statistics of fish populations

Handbook of computations for biological statistics of fish populations

Methods for assessment of fish production in fresh waters , Methods for assessment of fish production in fresh waters , مرکز فناوری اطلاعات و اطلاع رسانی کشاورزی

William E. Ricker

Papers

Computation and interpretation of biological statistics of fish populations

Computation and interpretation of biological statistics of fish populations

Handbook of computations for biological statistics of fish populations

Methods for assessment of fish production in fresh waters

Systematic studies in Plecoptera