PUBLIC TALK: Perils of Fornicating on the Beach

A public lecture by Dr Craig Purchase, Associate Professor of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland and a UWA Institute of Advanced Studies Visiting Fellow.

Keystone species hold critical roles in the functioning of foodwebs. About 30 years ago, the Northwest Atlantic Ocean foodweb was uprooted with the collapse of cod stocks, and continues to undergo substantial change. Capelin are the most important fish in the region, converting zooplankton protein to forage for larger fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Major shifts in life history characteristics of capelin occurred in the early 90s concomitant with a biomass collapse, which has not recovered. Capelin are well known for their unusual sex lives, where extremely high densities of fish spawn together in the surf zone of beaches. In this talk, Dr Purchase will discuss his research on capelin reproduction, and how evolutionary constraints may underpin the observed changes in ecosystem functioning.