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Effect of Air Temperature on Growth of Largemouth Bass in North America
Author(s) -
McCauley Robert W.,
Kilgour D. Marl
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1990)119<0276:eoatog>2.3.co;2
Subject(s) - micropterus , bass (fish) , air temperature , environmental science , growth model , growth rate , maximum temperature , mean radiant temperature , regression analysis , biology , ecology , zoology , climate change , atmospheric sciences , geography , mathematics , statistics , meteorology , physics , geometry , mathematical economics
We examined the relationship between air temperature and growth for geographically disparate populations of largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides by use of published data in conjunction with climatological records. The thermal component of climate best correlated with growth was accumulated day‐degrees over 10°C. This measure ofclimate was suggested by a simple model in which growth rate is proportionate to temperature in excess of 10°C. Correlations (0.79–0.84) between total mean lengths each year (years 3–8) and accumulated day‐degrees were significant, and indicated that more than half the variability in growth may be attributed to environmental temperature. Theoretical growth curves reconstructed from these regression lines agreed well with those observed for natural populations.