Growth of tropical dasyatid rays estimated using a multi-analytical approach

O.R. O'Shea; M. Braccini; R. McAuley; C.W. Speed; M.G. Meekan

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0077194

Back

Growth of tropical dasyatid rays estimated using a multi-analytical approach

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Growth of tropical dasyatid rays estimated using a multi-analytical approach

O.R. O'Shea, M. Braccini, R. McAuley, C.W. Speed and M.G. Meekan

PLoS ONE, Vol.8(10), e77194

2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0077194

Files and links (2)

pdf

growth_of_tropical_dasyatid_rays.pdfDownload View

Published (Version of Record) Open Access

url

Free to Read *No subscription requiredView

Abstract

We studied the age and growth of four sympatric stingrays: reticulate whipray, Himanutra uarnak (n=19); blue mask, Neotrygon kuhlii (n=34); cowtail, Pastinachus atrus (n=32) and blue-spotted fantail, Taeniura lymma (n=40) rays at Ningaloo Reef, a fringing coral reef on the north-western coast of western Australia. Age estimates derived from band counts within sectioned vertebrae ranged between 1 and 27 years (H. uarnak, 1 - 25 yrs.; N. kuhlii, 1.5 - 13 yrs.; P. atrus, 1 - 27 yrs. and T. lymma, 1 -11 yrs.). Due to limitations of sample sizes, we combined several analytical methods for estimating growth parameters. First, we used nonlinear least squares (NLS) to identify the growth model that best fitted the data. We then used this model, prior information and the data within a Bayesian framework to approximate the posterior distribution of the growth parameters. For all species the two-parameter von Bertalanffy growth model provided the best fit to size-at-age datasets. Based on this model, the Bayesian approach allowed the estimation of median values of WD∞ (cm) and k (yr-1) for the four species (H. uarnak: 149 and 0.12; N. kuhlii: 42 and 0.38; P. atrus 156 and 0.16, and T. lymma 33 and 0.24, respectively). Our approach highlights the value of combining different analytical methods and prior knowledge for estimating growth parameters when data quality and quantity are limited.

Details

Title: Growth of tropical dasyatid rays estimated using a multi-analytical approach
Authors/Creators: O.R. O'Shea (Author/Creator)
M. Braccini (Author/Creator) - Shark and Ray Sustainability Group, WA Fisheries and Marine Research Laboratories, Hillary’s Boat Harbour, Western Australia, Commonwealth of Australia
R. McAuley (Author/Creator) - Shark and Ray Sustainability Group, WA Fisheries and Marine Research Laboratories, Hillary’s Boat Harbour, Western Australia, Commonwealth of Australia
C.W. Speed (Author/Creator) - Australian Institute of Marine Science
M.G. Meekan (Author/Creator) - Australian Institute of Marine Science
Publication Details: PLoS ONE, Vol.8(10), e77194
Publisher: Public Library of Science
Identifiers: 991005540190607891
Copyright: © 2013 O'Shea et al.
Murdoch Affiliation: School of Veterinary and Life Sciences
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article
Note: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

Source: InCites

Metrics

142 File views/ downloads

40 Record Views

14 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration
Citation topics: 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology; 3.2 Marine Biology; 3.2.92 Fisheries Ecology
Web Of Science research areas: Marine & Freshwater Biology
ESI research areas: Plant & Animal Science