This investigation introduces a new concept, fish growth rate potential, which is derived from the integration of spatially articulated field data on prey sizes, prey density and the physical environment with a species-specific physiological-based model of fish growth rate. The approach combines the strengths of bioacoustics to measure fish density and size quantitatively and of bioenergetics models to accurately simulate fish growth. The result is a two- dimensional, nonlinear biophysical model of fish growth and system production. This research will develop the growth rate potential parameter mathematically and evaluate the sensitivity and spatial statistics of fish growth rate potential on a diel and seasonal basis assuming different ecological hypotheses on predator behavior (optimal foraging, thermoregulation, behavioral bioenergetics). The Chesapeake Bay will be used as a study site because of the availability of an extensive database well-suited for these analyses. Since growth rate potential links biology and physics within a spatially-explicit framework, it has widespread application for predicting how changes in the patterning or absolute scaling of the environment might affect production dynamics of higher trophic levels. It is anticipated that the concept of growth rate potential will evolve and provide a stimulus for the development of conceptual analogs.
