We examined patterns in the somatic growth of populations of Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides in northern Idaho lakes and modeled its variation to understand how spatiotemporal differences in climate regulate growth in lentic systems. Age was estimated from 768 Largemouth Bass from six distinct populations. Largemouth Bass growth and longevity in northern Idaho was typical to populations at similar latitudes; however, growth was substantially slower than average compared with other populations throughout North America. Mean relative growth estimates of Largemouth Bass for ages 1–8 never exceeded the 25th percentile of the North American average, and relative growth was either stable or slightly increasing as a function of age for most study populations. Annual incremental growth was more variable across years than among populations. Growth tended to be positively related to precipitation during the growing season or mean minimum annual temperature, but the importance of either covariate was dependent on lake surface area. Approximately 50% of the variation in growth of Largemouth Bass was explained by precipitation during the growing season in lakes with a surface area ≤70 ha. In the largest study lakes (i.e., ≥600 ha), over 50% of the variability in incremental growth was attributable to mean minimum annual temperature. Similarity in lake surface area resulted in the most interannual growth synchrony, whereas less synchrony was observed as a function of proximity. We hypothesize that annual climate patterns are not spatially variable enough in northern Idaho to elucidate measurable effects on growth but that local geography may be more important for regulating how climate interacts with Largemouth Bass growth on a regional basis. We interpret our results to mean that the ecology and conservation of Largemouth Bass may benefit from a more complete understanding of the climate–growth relationships on a region‐by‐region basis, with particular consideration for ecosystem characteristics.

中文翻译：

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爱达荷州北部湖大嘴鲈鱼生长的评估：时空模式和外部联系。

我们在大口黑鲈群体的身体生长检查模式加州鲈在爱达荷州北部的湖泊中建立模型并对其变化进行建模，以了解气候的时空差异如何调节透镜系统的生长。根据来自六个不同人群的768个大口黑鲈估计年龄。爱达荷州北部的大嘴鲈鱼生长和寿命长于类似纬度的人群；但是，与整个北美地区的其他人群相比，其增长速度大大低于平均水平。大嘴鲈在1–8岁时的平均相对生长估计值从未超过北美平均水平的25％，并且相对于大多数研究人群而言，其相对生长是稳定的或略有增加的。与人群之间的年增长率相比，年份之间的差异更大。生长往往与生长期的降水量或平均最低年气温成正相关，但任一协变量的重要性都取决于湖泊的表面积。大嘴鲈鱼生长变化的大约50％是由生长季节在表面积≤70公顷的湖泊中的降水解释的。在最大的研究湖泊（即≥600公顷）中，增量增长变化的50％以上归因于平均最低年气温。湖泊表面积的相似性导致了年际增长的同步性最高，而观测到的同步性则较小。我们假设爱达荷州北部的年度气候模式在空间上的变化不足以阐明对增长的可衡量影响，但当地地理对于调节气候与区域内大嘴鲈鱼生长的相互作用可能更为重要。我们将结果解释为，大口黑鲈的生态和保护可能受益于对区域与区域之间的气候-生长关系的更全面了解，尤其是对生态系统特征的考虑。