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The quick and the dead: larval mortality due to turbulent tidal transport

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2007

M.J. Jessopp
M.J. Jessopp
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Ecology & Plant Science, University College Cork, Distillery Fields (Cooperage), North Mall, Cork, Ireland. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Marine populations are typically connected over greater spatial scales than their terrestrial counterparts due to many species having a highly dispersive, planktonic larval phase. However, high levels of larval mortality in the plankton may reduce connectivity between populations. The effect of turbulence on larval mortality was investigated under natural conditions in a field experiment. Larvae were collected before and after being subjected to turbulent tidal flow from a marine reserve, with differential mortality being observed between taxa. Thin-shelled veligers of gastropods and bivalves showed significantly increased mortality, while barnacle nauplii and cyprids, bryozoan cyphonaute larvae and polychaete trochophores showed no effect of turbulent tidal transport. Where appropriate, marine reserve design should account for the reduced connectivity between populations associated with turbulent tidal transport between reserve and adjacent areas.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 87 , Issue 3 , June 2007 , pp. 675 - 680
Copyright
2007 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

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