Despite the high global invasion profile of Gambusia holbrooki, there is limited knowledge of its population dynamics, especially biological parameters for fine-scale delineation of recruitment events that can provide a basis for controlling this short-lived invasive species. Key to this is daily ageing of otoliths, and in this study 193 (~ 50%) of 394 wild fish sampled from an invaded wetland were successfully aged. Increment counts of growth rings in otoliths from aquaria-reared G. holbrooki did not correspond 1:1 to their known ages but were significantly correlated (P < 0.05, R² = 0.92), suggesting the use of linear relationships could nevertheless be used to estimate the age of wild-caught fish. Mean daily growth rate estimated for spring-summer cohorts (0.28 mm/day) was much greater than that of winter cohorts (0.12 mm/day). A natural mortality rate of 0.01 day^− 1 for females was estimated by catch-curve analysis via length to age conversion based on the growth relationship. Birth rate closely correlated with changes in water temperature with a peak reproduction in January (Austral summer) at the study site. This study, for the first time, used daily age estimates of G. holbrooki to quantitatively examine population dynamics, which can be used to investigate invasive dynamics and choice of pest control strategies, including their scheduling and assessment.

尽管Gambusia holbrooki的全球入侵概况很高，但对其种群动态的了解有限，尤其是对募集事件进行精细描述的生物学参数，可以为控制这种短命入侵物种提供基础。这样做的关键是耳石的每日老化，在这项研究中，从入侵的湿地采样的394种野生鱼中有193种（〜50％）成功地进行了老化。水族馆饲养的G. holbrooki耳石中的年轮增量计数与它们的已知年龄不是1：1对应，而是显着相关的（P  <0.05，R ² = 0.92），这表明仍然可以使用线性关系来估计野生鱼类的年龄。估计春夏季队列的平均日增长率（0.28 mm /天）比冬季队列的平均日增长率（0.12 mm /天）要大得多。通过基于生长关系的身高到年龄的转换，通过渔获曲线分析估算出女性的自然死亡率为0.01天^-1。在研究地点，出生率与水温的变化密切相关，一月（澳大利亚夏季）的繁殖高峰。这项研究首次使用荷氏乳杆菌的日龄估算值来定量检查种群动态，这可用于调查侵入性动态和害虫控制策略的选择，包括其计划和评估。