A statistical framework to explore ontogenetic Growth variation among individuals and populations: A marine fish example

Abstract

Growth is a fundamental biological process, driven by a multitude of intrinsic (within-individual) and extrinsic (environmental) factors, that underpins individual fitness and population demographics. Focusing on the comprehensive information stored in aquatic and terrestrial organism hard parts, wedevelop a series of increasingly complex hierarchical models to explore spatial and temporal sources of growth variation, ranging in resolution from within individuals to across a species. We apply this modeling framework to an extensive data set of otolith increment measurements from tiger flathead (Platycephalus richardsoni), a demersal commercially exploited fish that inhabits the warming water..