PONE-D-21-30888Reproductive strategy of Delta Smelt Hypomesus transpacificus and impacts of drought on reproductive performancePLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments:

Dear Dr. Tomofumi Kurobe

Thank you for considering the PLOsOne journal for your paper. We have got your manuscript reviewed by four different reviewers. All the reviewers appreciate the manuscript and recommend publication. The manuscript will be published after minor revision . Therefore I would request you to comply with the reviewers comments and resubmit the manuscript after suggested revision. Following comments could not be uploaded by the reviewers rather they sent to me as email attachment.

Reviewer : Rai, Malayaj

Title : “Reproductive strategy of Delta Smelt Hypomesus transpacificus and impacts of drought on reproductive performance”

1. Recommendation (Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision, Reject)

Accept

2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions? (Answer options: Yes, No, Partly)

Yes

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? (Answer options: Yes, No, I don't know, N/A)

Yes

4. Does the manuscript adhere to the PLOS Data Policy? Additional details can be found at http://www.plosone.org/static/policies#sharing

Yes

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

Yes

6. Review Comments to the Author

This study aims to describe the distribution of delta-smelt during spawning and influence of drought on its reproductive efficiency. The first hypothesis is not confirmed as the distribution of delta smelt seems to be widespread in regions with low salinity (below 1.0), which is indicated in the figures provided by the author and also discussed in the paper. The second hypothesis regarding the impact of drought on reproductive efficacy of delta-smelt could be confirmed as indicated by a decrease in clutch size in 2013 and 2014 year-classes in comparison to 2011 year-class. Decrease in GSI post-drought is also indicating a negative impact of drought on reproductive performance. The statistical analysis method is correctly described and the reason for the choices tests is also articulately provided such as why the tests were performed on fish in the late vitellogenic stage which makes it easier to understand for reviewers from different areas of interest or expertise. Overall, the writing is intelligible and informative. The reason for current distribution or a more detailed analysis as what were the causative agents for a reduced reproductive need to be studied in more detail.

7. Would you like your identity revealed to the authors of this submission? (Answer options: Yes, No)

Yes

8. Do you have any potentially competing interests? If none, type "None." Our policy on competing interests can be found at http://www.plosone.org/static/policies.action#competing.

No

 

Manuscript #: PONE-D-21-30888

Title: Reproductive strategy of Delta Smelt Hypomesus transpacificus and impacts of drought on reproductive performance

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Tomofumi Kurobe; Bruce Hammock; Lauren Damon; Tien-Chieh Hung; Shawn Acuña; Erwin Van Nieuwenhuyse; Andrew Schultz; Swee The

1. Recommendation (Accept, Minor Revision, Major Revision, Reject)

Minor revision

2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions? (Answer options: Yes, No, Partly)

Yes

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? (Answer options: Yes, No, I don't know, N/A)

Yes

4. Does the manuscript adhere to the PLOS Data Policy? Additional details can be found at http://www.plosone.org/static/policies#sharing

Yes

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English? (Answer options: Yes, No)

Yes

6. Review Comments to the Author

The present study intends to fill the research gaps involved in Delta smelt distribution at the time of spawning and the impact of drought on it. The language of the paper is expressible and is written in an explainable manner, however, the use of frequent passive voice sentences should be done away with. Instead, as suggested, the authors should adhere to active voice, unless needed otherwise.

In lines 130-131, the sentence runs as “Another unknown is whether a severe, recent drought in California from 2013- 131 2015 impacted the reproductive performance of Delta Smelt. Feyrer et al. The word “unknown” should be followed by a noun such as “fact”. It would become more impressive if the author uploads the data involved in the research.

7. Would you like your identity revealed to the authors of this submission? (Answer options: Yes, No)

No

8. Do you have any potentially competing interests? If none, type "None."

None

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The study aims to address the research gap on Delta Smelt distribution during spawning and the impact of drought on its reproductive performance. The methods employed appropriate design, including the choice of statistical tests. The results answered the hypotheses of the study. However, the discussion at lines 595-598 needs to be cautioned from overinterpreting the water quality data used in the study. From an ecological perspective, chlorophyll may serve as a more appropriate indicator for the spatio-temporal distribution in the context of small pelagic fisheries of the Zamboanga Peninsula (Villanoy et al., 2014). Perhaps the paper can expand its discussion to include the role of chlorophyll insofar as Delta Smelt distribution is concerned.

On the other hand, the impact of drought adequately correlates with the reduction of oocyte size, clutch size, and GSI; the data strongly supports the study's second hypothesis. Regarding PLOS data policy compliance, can the authors upload the data points for somatic condition factor, clutch size, oocyte area, and other related data in the study? For this reason, I answered "no" to review question 3. The writing style of the paper is intelligible and written in standard English.

Reviewer #2: Good study, provide new knowledge of female Delta Smelt relating to environmental factors.

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Robert S. Guino-o II

Reviewer #2: Yes: Kareem Altaff

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Reproductive strategy of Delta Smelt Hypomesus transpacificus and impacts of drought on reproductive performance

PONE-D-21-30888R1

Dear Dr. Kurobe

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kind regards,

Ram Kumar, Ph.D., D. Sc (H/C)

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Thank you for considering the PLoS ONE for your research outcome entitled “Reproductive strategy of Delta Smelt Hypomesus transpacificus and impacts of drought on reproductive performance” . Based on comments of all five reviewers and my own perusal of the Ms. I am glad to inform you that the manuscript is accepted for the publication in the Journal PLoS ONE.

We hope that you will find the PLoS ONE a potential vehicle of disseminating you research in future also.