Our article on long-term dynamics of the threespine stickleback in the White Sea

In November, the ICES Journal of Marine Science published our paper on the long-term dynamics of the threespine stickleback in the White Sea. Here you can read about it. This research was based on historical data, such as scientific and personal observations, archival data on the fishery. This allowed us to visualize the dynamics of the threespine stickleback population in the White Sea since the late 19th century (the longest time period for this species).

We started thinking about writing an article on stickleback population dynamics almost from the very beginning of our project. But, as it often happens, the path from idea to publication was long. The first paper on this topic was published in the popular science magazine “Priroda” in 2013. This article was the first publication of our project in major journals. We didn’t have the time for a more serious publication, while we continued to work, trying to make the most of the unique capabilities of our subject, which made it possible to combine historical and modern research.

As a result of many years of work, we obtained the longest period in terms of population dynamics for the threespine stickleback and, possibly, for non-commercial fish in general. Moreover, this was done in conditions of minimal impact of anthropogenic factors, when changes in the number are due to natural causes. And most importantly, this data is like an axis, which is the basis of our entire project. The presence of this axis allows us to better plan all our activities and understand the mechanisms of the dynamics of the stickleback population in the White Sea.