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Evolutionary ecology

To grow or not to grow?

Evolution of growth is an evolutionary puzzle, and adding fisheries selection does not make that any easier. A new paper from EvoFish aims at clarifying our thoughts about growth evolution.

Acquired resources are allocated to three main components: (i) the ‘running...
Acquired resources are allocated to three main components: (i) the ‘running costs’ of an individual including basal metabolism and routine behaviour, (ii) somatic growth including structures and stores, and (iii) reproduction
Photo:
Katja Enberg et al. Marine Ecology 2012

Main content

A new article 'Fishing-induced evolution of growth: concepts, mechanisms and the empirical evidence' (open access!) in Marine Ecology – An Evolutionary Perspective, with Katja Enberg in lead, reviews growth evolution in general, and discusses how fisheries-induced selection may influence this important trait. The conventional wisdom is that fishing favours slower growth because fisheries are usually positively size-selective (i.e., large fish are preferentially caught), but this may not always be true. To understand why—read the paper!