Collaborative Research: Estuarine Crab Transport: Linking Post-Settlement Dispersal, Bio-Physical Mechanisms and Hydrodynamic Corridors

幼年底栖生物在最初幼虫定居后的二次远洋扩散可能会强烈影响当地和区域的种群动态，但在招募研究中很少考虑二次扩散。 虽然定居后的蓝蟹分散在确定招聘模式在帕姆利科声音，NC的相对重要性，目前公认的因素，启动运动的早期青少年蓝蟹远离解决栖息地，介导的机制跨健全运输，和人口水平的后果重新分配到替代栖息地，尚未被探讨。 该项目将通过一项跨学科研究解决这些问题，其中包括：（1）对外滩群岛健全一侧沿着的海草床进行小规模实地测量，以确定引起最初从定居生境迁移的因素，（2）进行实验室实验，以测试驱动远洋移民的行为机制，和（3）声音范围内的水文调查，以表征帕姆利科声音循环与天气测量的时空分布的后期幼虫和青少年蓝蟹。该项目将在2002-2003年期间进行，以利用由另一个国家科学基金会奖资助的同时进行的幼虫和幼鱼取样。该项目将有助于了解在不受潮汐运动支配，但受不规则或持续的风引起的运动支配的河口中，远洋扩散是如何发生的。 从过去对具有强潮汐信号的系统的工作中概括招募动态（例如，切萨皮克和特拉华州海湾）可能无法准确地描述主要是大型风力驱动系统（如帕姆利科湾）的河口补充模式。

Secondary pelagic dispersal of juvenile benthic organisms following initial larval settlement may strongly influence local and regional population dynamics, yet secondary dispersal is rarely considered in recruitment studies. While the relative importance of post-settlement blue crab dispersal in determining recruitment patterns in Pamlico Sound, NC, is presently recognized, the factors initiating movement by early juvenile blue crabs away from settlement habitats, the mechanisms mediating across-sound transport, and the population-level consequences of redistribution to alternative habitats, have not yet been explored. This project will address these issues through an interdisciplinary study that incorporates: (1) small-scale field measurements in seagrass beds along the sound-side of the Outer Banks to identify the factors cueing initial movement from settlement habitats, (2) laboratory experiments to test the behavioral mechanisms that drive pelagic emigration, and (3) sound-wide hydrographic surveys to characterize Pamlico Sound circulation coupled with synoptic measurements of the spatiotemporal distribution of postlarval and juvenile blue crabs. The project will be conducted during 2002-2003 to take advantage of concurrent postlarval and juvenile sampling supported by another NSF award. This project will contribute to the understanding of how pelagic dispersal occurs in estuaries that are not dominated by tidal motions, but by irregular or persistent wind-induced motions. Generalizations of recruitment dynamics from past work on systems with strong tidal signals (e.g., Chesapeake and Delaware Bays) may not accurately characterize patterns of estuarine recruitment in predominantly large, wind-driven systems such as Pamlico Sound.