9420155 Bennett Water temperature is a critical environmental variable that plays a major role in determining the distribution and abundance of fish species. Temperature changes alter muscle function and hence escape speed and vulnerability to predators. This project will examine the effects of temperature, temperature changes and predation on escape behavior of fish. Acclimation to long-term temperature changes will be examined in several species of cyprinid fish by high speed video filming of escape behavior and analysis of muscle contractile properties and the enzymatic bases of those properties. The same techniques will be used to examine the effect of historical (multigenerational) exposure to differing levels of predation on fish populations to determine whether exposure to predation causes divergence in locomotor performance capacities. The research will provide a basis for predicting likely effects of water temperature on stock performance in nature, the ability of those stocks to adjust performance over longer term temperature exposure, and potential evolutionary changes in fish stocks introduced into new areas with new predatory regimes. This information is important to both fisheries management and to understanding how populations of cold-blooded vertebrates may adjust to climate change or range extension.
