Physiology in the Service of Fisheries Science - Providing Mechanistic Explanations Linking Environment and Behavior

Behavioral responses of individual fishes to environmental conditions are central in determining larger scale population- and community-level responses. Physiology is the transfer function that links specific environmental conditions to behavior and ultimately fitness.  Many insights into fish behavior come from field surveys which correlate spatial ecology and abundance to physiochemical, biotic, and structural habitat variables. However, field surveys are typically stratified by time-space criteria relevant to humans, while fishes stratify by variables they find relevant. When mechanisms underlying fish behavior are not explicitly considered, conclusions based on survey data can lead to incorrect or tautological inferences into fish ecology and species’ requirements or preferences. We argue that there are great gains to be made at the intersection of physiology and fisheries biology, complementary disciplines that function at different temporal and spatial scales.  Specifically, approaches integrating laboratory and field studies (where each develops hypotheses that are tested in the other) to investigate relationships between physiology, behavior, and environmental conditions can reveal cause-effect relationships rather than limiting inferences to be based on correlations and associations. When ecophysiological approaches are integrated with behavioral perspectives, processes can be mechanistically linked from cells through populations to place fisheries management issues in an appropriate ecosystem context.