Garfield T. Kwan

Abstract Feeding success and maternal effects on larval size have long been hypothesized as important contributors to interannual recruitment variability in marine fishes. This study examined the feeding ecology and influences of diet and size-at-birth on length and growth of larval rockfishes (Sebastes spp.). Prey carbon biomass and selection were calculated from gut contents, size-at-birth was estimated using otolith core size, and recent growth was derived from outer otolith increment widths.

Abstract Changes in land use, warming climate and increased drought have amplified wildfire frequency and magnitude globally. Ash mixing into aquatic systems after wildfires rapidly increases water pH, creating an additional threat to wildlife, especially species that are already threatened, endangered and/or migratory.

Highlights • Aquatic Chaoborus midge larvae regulate their buoyancy using tracheal air-sacs • pH-induced swelling of resilin bands in the air-sac wall alters the sac’s volume • Resilin pH is regulated by VHA H+ pumps antagonized by the cAMP signaling pathway • The air-sac behaves as a pH muscle as the resilin bands swell in one dimension only Summary The freshwater aquatic larvae of the Chaoborus midge are the world’s only truly planktonic insects, regulating their buoyancy using two pairs of...