Long-term mark-recapture and growth data for large-sized migratory brown trout () from Lake Mjøsa, Norway.

Background: Long-term data from marked animals provide a wealth of opportunities for studies with high relevance to both basic ecological understanding and successful management in a changing world. The key strength of such data is that they allow us to quantify individual variation in vital rates (e.g.

Size- and stage-dependence in cause-specific mortality of migratory brown trout.

Evidence-based management of natural populations under strong human influence frequently requires not only estimates of survival but also knowledge about how much mortality is due to anthropogenic vs. natural causes. This is the case particularly when individuals vary in their vulnerability to different causes of mortality due to traits, life history stages, or locations.

Individual heterogeneity and early life conditions shape growth in a freshwater top predator.

Body size can have profound impacts on survival, movement, and reproductive schedules shaping individual fitness, making growth a central process in ecological and evolutionary dynamics. Realized growth is the result of a complex interplay between life history schedules, individual variation, and environmental influences. Integrating all of these aspects into growth models is methodologically difficult, depends on the availability of repeated measurements of identifiable individuals, and consequently represents a major challenge in particular for natural populations.

Total mercury in wild fish in Guizhou reservoirs, China.

The health hazard of mercury (Hg) compounds is internationally recognized, and the main pathways for methylmercury (MeHg) intake in humans are through consumption of food, especially fish. Given the large releases of Hg to the environment in China, combined with the fast development of hydropower, this issue deserves attention. Provided similar mobilization pathways of Hg in China as seen in reservoirs in North America and Europe one should expect increased Hg contamination in relation to future hydropower reservoir construction in this country.