The Role of Larval Nutritional History In Post-Settlement, Early Juvenile Performance (growth & survivorship) of Benthic Marine Invertebrates

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

9416590 Emlet This research will provide an approach with combined laboratory manipulation and field experimentation for examining ecological and evolutionary connections between the two least understood components of the life cycles of benthic marine invertebrates: larvae and juveniles. Work will examine the effect of larval nutrition on juvenile performance in the field, a feature ignored in the studies of recruitment biology. Studies on recruitment biology are currently focused on larval supply, and this research will show whether there is a need to consider larval condition and its influence on juvenile performance to explain control of benthic populations by larval input. Larvae will be fed in the lab on cultured algal rations at levels approximating coastal oceanic conditions. By experimenting with an array of invertebrates with different modes of life (sessile, mobile) and different trophic modes (suspension feeders, herbivores, predators), the work determines whether effects on juvenile performance apply broadly. This project provide field tests of the long hypothesized (survival) advantages of greater energystores and larger size at metamorphosis which are basic components of most verbal and quantitative models of life history evolution of marine invertebrates. The approach is strengthened by the use of species with 3 different developmental patterns (pelagic feeding larvae, pelagic nonfeeding larvae, and benthic encapsulated juveniles), in that it will be possible to determine if the hypothesized advantages readily apply to all types of development included.