Publication Date:
2022-05-25
Description:
Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2012. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Inter-Research for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Marine Ecology Progress Series 469 (2012): 53-69, doi:10.3354/meps09998.
Description:
Physical and biological conditions impact recruitment and adult population structure of 34 marine invertebrates by affecting early life history processes from spawning to post-settlement. We investigated how temperature, salinity and phytoplankton influenced larval abundance and larval size structure for three species of bivalves over two non-consecutive years in Waquoit Bay, MA. Abundance and size of Mercenaria mercenaria (quahog), Anomia simplex (jingle clam), and Geukensia demissa (ribbed mussel) larvae were compared between locations in the bay and with environmental conditions. Shell birefringence patterns using polarized light microscopy were used to distinguish species. Larval abundances for all three species were higher in 2009 than in 2007 and were positively correlated with temperature in both years. Differences in larval abundance and size structure between bay sites were attributed to salinity tolerances and potential source locations. Higher survival in 2009 than in 2007, as determined by number of pediveligers, was likely due to higher temperatures and greater food availability during the peak abundance months of July and August in 2009. Yearly differences in larval growth and survival can have a large impact on recruitment. Knowing the optimal periods and locations for larval abundance and survival can be useful for isolating species-specific patterns in larval dispersal and to aid resource managers in enhancing or restoring depleted populations.
Description:
This research was conducted in the National Estuarine Research Reserve System under an award to S. Gallager and C. Mingione Thompson from the Estuarine Reserves Division, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Keywords:
Bivalves
;
Larval supply
;
Transport
;
Spawning
;
Estuaries
;
Shellfish
;
Time series
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Preprint
Format:
application/pdf
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