Hormones as adaptive control systems in juvenile fish.

ABSTRACT: Growth is an important theme in biology. Physiologists often relate growth rates to hormonal control of essential processes. Ecologists often study growth as a function of gradients or combinations of environmental factors. Fewer studies have investigated the combined effects of environmental and hormonal control on growth. Here, we present an evolutionary optimization model of fish growth that combines internal regulation of growth by hormone levels with the external influence of food availability and predation risk. The model finds a dynamic hormone profile that optimizes fish growth and survival up to 30 cm, and we use the probability of reaching this milestone as a proxy for fitness. The complex web of interrelated hormones and other signalling molecules is simplified to three function

SUBMITTER: Weidner J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7044463 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature