Though the Chesapeake Bay is a highly productive estuary, seasonal hypoxia, a reduction in the amount of oxygen, threatens the inhabitants of its waters. These conditions cause fish to move from their preferred habitat to sub-optimal areas. Mary Fabrizio and Benjamin Marckek of Virginia Institute of Marine Science as well as Richard Brill, J. Kevin Craig, and Robert Humston will investigate the related effects on the metabolic rates of displaced fish. They hope to create a model that will predict fish movements, distribution, and abundance that can be useful for future spatially explicit stock assessments.
Project details: Mary Fabrizio, Benjamin Marcek (VIMS), Richard Brill (Northeast Fishery Science Center), J. Kevin Craig (Southeast Fishery Science Center), and Robert Humston (Washington and Lee University). Individual-based, Dynamics-Landscape Models of Marine Fishes Incorporating Ecophysiological Constraints.
