澳洲留學-雪梨科技大學科學研究-

探索海中生態系

Science at University of Technology Sydney – discoveries making waves for ecology

Sometimes it’s nice to be noticed!

For example, it’s nice to be the best singer in your provincial hometown. Or maybe you’re the best lawyer in all of 琉球嶼!

In English, we call it “being a big fish in a small pond”.

But the reality is that big fish in small ponds don’t always have the best luck. That’s what a leading scientist and successful research fellow found at the University of Technology in Sydney. Dr Peter Biro’s ideas could change how industry and conservationists view water environments, and how to manage them sustainably.

So if we’re not dealing with an English metaphor but rather with a real fish, why is it so bad to be big? It’s certainly true that larger fish get caught a lot more quickly, so they are the ones ending up on our dinner plates. That’s hard luck for the individual fishy.

What’s more surprising according to this research is that netting bigger fish can also be bad for the entire fish population. By aiming to catch the biggest fish, we are targeting the ones that grow the quickest. This leaves behind only their slower-growing cousins to keep up the species. It means today’s fishing practices may encourage a surviving population of slower-growing specimens, prompting the question: Are we taking fish down an evolutionary path that could weaken the species?

Here’s how Dr Biro’s experiment progressed: first his team found a couple of small Canadian lakes which they stocked with two different types of rainbow trout. Type 1 grows rapidly and hunts food aggressively – the second type is slower to grow and more timid when finding food. With both lakes stocked and ready, the researchers went fishing! They used typical industry nets (called ‘gillnets’) to fish the lakes.

And the results: the team’s nets filled with the assertive, fearless type 1 fish three times faster than with the shy ones – it was the more timid type 2 fish that got left behind to swim and breed.

One conclusion is that without fully realising it, our fishing industries may be encouraging populations of fish that have some worrying traits. Could this have an impact on fish-kind? It seems so, because when genes for fast growth and bold personality traits get taken out of the fish population, the result is a weaker population. But changing fishing practices is just one potential outcome, because Dr Biro’s conclusions also show that today’s conservation-oriented fishing laws – which place restrictions on the size of fish we can catch – might in fact promote the evolution of slower-growing, less feisty members of the species. So it seems both hunters and protectors might need to do more for fish, helping species survive in populations that are not only larger in number but also far more healthy.

有人說過你像是”小池塘裡的大魚”嗎? 如果他的意思是「你真是這個南投小鎮上最好的鋼琴家呢~」或者「你是琉球嶼上最棒的律師!!」，那當然值得高興。

但如果你真的是淡水湖裡的一條魚可就不妙了。雪梨科技大學的研究發現，體型較大的魚比較容易捕捉，所以也比較常被人類當成晚餐。

這個現象除了對大魚不利之外，也會影響整個魚類生態系。雪梨科技大學的研究人員Peter Biro 博士和美國國家科學學院合作發現，捕魚如果都鎖定大魚，就會把成長速度比較快的魚種都給抓走，留下其餘成長速度慢的品種。

研究人員在不列顛哥倫比亞的兩個湖裡各放置兩種虹鱒魚: 一種長的快而且愛獵食，另一種長的慢又膽小。接著，研究人員用刺網捕撈整個湖，結果發現捉到「大膽魚」的速度比捉到「害羞魚」的速度快了三倍，因此比較膽小的魚有比較多機會留在湖裡繁殖。這個研究顯示，現今以節約資源為目標的漁業界其實幫助了行動較為消極的小型魚類生存。魚類具有強壯、大膽等等特質的基因逐漸被淘汰，也就代表著魚類將會變成更弱小的物種。

所以，我們其實並沒有幫助健康且大型的魚生存，反而促進了對捕魚人和魚販都會造成損失的害羞小魚繁衍下一代…。

What course?

Master of Science (Marine Science and Management)

This course will

Provide you with a solid grounding in science and management for marine environments
Develop your skill-set for a career in environmental and marine science
Guide your studies and career as you move towards a specialisation
Train students to work effectively with government and industry
Enrich students through learning in a world famous institute of marine science
Puts you in contact with world-class scientists and cutting edge research.

Where will I study?

University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
University of New South Wales (UNSW)

Duration – how long is the course?

1 year (Full Time)

Entry – what do I need for admission?

You must have a good bachelors degree in a related field

Language – English ability

IELTS 6.5 (with a writing score of 6.0)

課程內容

讓您學習的海洋環境科學和管理擁有堅實基礎

運用環境與海洋科學的技能發展規劃您的職業生涯

引導您的學業和事業走向專業化

培養學生與政府機關有效合作

協助學生至世界著名的海洋科學研究所繼續學習

使您接觸世界一流的科學家和最頂尖的研究。

Are you interested in this kind of research?

This project was a funded collaboration with Canada’s University of Calgary, reminding us of the international nature of university research communities – just one of the many aspects of research-oriented postgraduate study that may appeal to you.