U.S. GLOBEC: Egg Production, Growth, and Mortality of Calanus finmarchicus and Pseudocalanus spp. on Georges Bank

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9632460 DURBIN The abundance and production rates of Calanus finmarchicus and Pseudocalanus spp. have been observed to differ greatly between the shallow well-mixed crest waters of Georges Bank and the deeper waters of the northeast peak and the southern flank. This project will investigate the hypothesis that differing physical processes which control the advection of water and zooplankton from the Gulf of Maine onto different regions of the bank during the winter, and differences in growth and mortality patterns of the target copepod species within the different regions of the bank, regulate the population sizes they attain during the spring and early summer. As part of the U.S. GLOBEC Northwest Atlantic Field Studies, Phase 2 program this project will focus on egg production, growth, and mortality of Calanus finmarchicus and Pseudocalanus spp.. This project will determine: (1) the recruitment of Calanus and Pseudocalanus on Georges Bank during the winter/spring period, as inferred from the distribution of nauplii and early copepodites collected with pump samples during the broad scale surveys; (2) the spatial, seasonal and interannual variation in egg production and birth rates for the dominant copepod species; (3) the spatial, seasonal and internal variations in egg viability, egg and naupliar mortality rates, and naupliar development rates; and (4) whether egg and naupliar mortality rates are correlated with abundances of potential predators. ***