Publication Date:
2022-05-25
Description:
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution February 2016
Description:
Many benthic marine invertebrates have two-phase life histories, relying on planktonic larval
stages for dispersal and exchange of individuals between adult populations. Historically,
larvae were considered passive drifters in prevailing ocean currents. More recently, however,
the paradigm has shifted toward active larval behavior mediating transport in the water
column. Larvae in the plankton encounter a variety of physical, chemical, and biological
cues, and their behavioral responses to these cues may directly impact transport, survival,
settlement, and successful recruitment.
In this thesis, I investigated the effects of turbulence, light, and conspecific adult exudates
on larval swimming behavior. I focused on two invertebrate species of distinct morphologies:
the purple urchin Arbacia punctulata, which was studied in pre-settlement planktonic stages,
and the Eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica, which was studied in the competent-to-settle
larval stage. From this work, I developed a conceptual framework within which larval
behavior is understood as being driven simultaneously by external environmental cues and
by larval age.
As no a priori theory for larval behavior is derivable from first principles, it is only
through experimental work that we are able to access behaviors and tie them back to specific
environmental triggers. In this work, I studied the behavioral responses of larvae at the
individual level, but those dynamics are likely playing out at larger scales in the ocean,
impacting population connectivity, community structure, and resilience. In this way, my
work represents progress in understanding how the ocean environment and larval behavior
couple to influence marine ecological processes.
Description:
This work was funded by the National Science Foundation under grant OCE-0850419 (to LS
Mullineaux and KR Helfrich), by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Sea
Grant NA14OAR4170074 (to LS Mullineaux, KR Helfrich, and JD Wheeler), grants from
WHOI Coastal Ocean Institute, discretionary WHOI funds, a WHOI Ocean Life Fellowship
(LS Mullineaux), and a Grove City College Swezey Fund Grant (EJ Anderson).
Keywords:
Marine invertebrates
;
Larvae
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Thesis
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