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

幼体幼虫最初定居后的二次中上层扩散可能会强烈影响当地和区域的种群动态，但在补充研究中很少考虑二次扩散。 虽然目前已经认识到定居后蓝蟹扩散在确定北卡罗来纳州帕姆利科湾的补充模式方面的相对重要性，但尚未探索早期幼年蓝蟹离开定居栖息地的因素、介导跨海峡运输的机制以及重新分布到其他栖息地对种群水平的影响。 该项目将通过跨学科研究解决这些问题，其中包括：（1）沿外滩声侧的海草床进行小规模现场测量，以确定导致定居栖息地初始移动的因素；（2）实验室实验，测试驱动中上层迁徙的行为机制；（3）全声域水文调查，以描述帕姆利科海峡环流特征，并结合对幼体和幼年蓝蟹时空分布的天气测量。该项目将在 2002 年至 2003 年期间进行，以利用由 NSF 另一个奖项支持的同时进行的幼体和幼体采样。该项目将有助于了解在河口中远洋扩散是如何发生的，这些河口不是由潮汐运动主导，而是由不规则或持续的风引起的运动主导。 过去对具有强潮汐信号的系统（例如切萨皮克湾和特拉华湾）的补充动态的概括可能无法准确地描述帕姆里科湾等大型风力驱动系统中的河口补充模式。

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.