LTREB: Long-Term Studies on the Recruitment Dynamics of Shallow Water Epifaunal Communities

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This LTREB project will support data collection on weekly recruitment patterns of a taxonomically diverse assemblage of benthic epifaunal invertebrates common to the southern New England coastal zone. Over the five year study period, data will be added to address (a) whether short-term, week?to?week variability in recruitment is tidally controlled, (b) whether recent invasive species differ in the timing, intensity, or duration of the recruitment period relative to resident species, and (c) whether annual fluctuations in water temperature affecting the timing and intensity of recruitment for a variety of species with different life history types. By collecting new data on larval abundances and additional environmental variables, the following will also be examined: (a) whether larval supply, recruitment and adult abundance are correlated, (b) whether taxa with short?living (lecithotrophic) larvae exhibit a greater degree of local control of recruitment than taxa with longer?lived (planktotrophic) larvae, and (c) whether inter?annual variability in recruitment is correlated with other environmental variables such as salinity, dissolved oxygen or chlorophyll a ('food) levels. Collectively, these measurements will provide a long-term database on the responses of marine organisms to changing environmental conditions (e.g., global temperature warming) and the detection of new species that are introduced into the region. In addition to these more applied benefits, understanding the role of larval supply and recruitment is a widely appreciated step in understanding why and how adult populations of marine organisms fluctuate through space and time. Data will also be available to the research community for use in modeling investigations or meta?analyses.