Distribution and Transport of Larvae of Inner-Shelf Benthic Invertebrates

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This research will be conducted under the auspices of the Coastal Ocean Processes (CoOP) program and is a continuation of a previously funded research project. Funding is provided for an integrated, interdisciplinary analysis and synthesis of extensive physical and biological samples and data collected off Duck, North Carolina in 1994 during the CoOP project, entitled "Suspension, cross-shelf transport, and deposition of planktonic larvae of inner-shelf benthic invertebrates." The field program provided simultaneous and comprehensive sampling of physical and biological patterns that comprise a unique resource from which investigators will derive a greater understanding of processes (both physical and behavioral) influencing the distribution and transport of invertebrate larvae over the inner continental shelf, as well as detailed knowledge of physical processes on the inner shelf. Sample analysis and data integration will continue on this unique data set in order to achieve the basic scientific objectives of the originally proposed research: (1) Do larval distributions show water mass or interface (i.e., fronts or clines) affinity? (2) Are there large changes in larval distributions during wind-driven, cross-shelf circulation (i.e., upwelling and downwelling)? (3) Does the freshwater plume from the Chesapeake Bay influence larval distributions on the inner shelf, both in terms of species composition (i.e., as a source of estuarine larvae) and of inner-shelf circulation? (4) Is there a semi-diurnal (i.e., tidal) variation in near-bottom larval concentrations? (5) Is there a correlation between near-bottom larval distributions and turbidity profiles? Do near-bottom larval distributions change during resuspension events and how might these changes affect larval transport? The work will be accomplished by six different teams of investigators at five separate institutions as a collaborative interdisciplinary effort.