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The purpose of this investigation was to determine if ring widths in the cross section of lake sturgeon pectoral fin rays satisfy three criteria required of structures used in the development of growth chronologies. First, ring widths must be related to the overall somatic growth of the organism. Second, ring widths must demonstrate synchrony of interannual growth variation among individuals within a population. Finally, fin ray rings and growth chronologies should be related to both interpopulation and interannual variations of known environmental factors. This research indicated that ring widths document variations in somatic growth. Average fin ray cross-sectional radii at age 25 were related to total length using data from seven populations sampled across North America. This investigation also suggested that growth ring widths were influenced by large-scale, population-wide, extrinsic factors in two ways. First, differences between populations in fin ray cross-sectional radii at age 25 were strongly correlated with mean annual, summer, and winter air temperatures. Second, growth chronologies developed from populations that demonstrate significant synchrony of interannual growth variations among members are consistently positively correlated to past air-temperature records. This research has provided evidence that growth rings contained in the cross section of the lake sturgeon pectoral fin ray can be used in the construction of growth chronologies.
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Lebreton et al. (2000) studied this question.
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