Collaborative Research: Temporal and spatial scales of variability in bivalve connectivity.

幼虫连通性是指亚种群交换幼虫的程度，已成为种群生态学、生物资源管理、生物多样性保护、入侵物种控制和栖息地恢复等领域的一个基本概念。然而，确定幼虫的扩散轨迹及其变异尺度仍然是一个主要挑战。Drs。Levin， Muccino和Razmussen将使用前瞻性建模和回顾性（元素指纹）方法的整合来评估南加州幼体连接的变异性及其对mylid贻贝种群的人口影响。该项目建立在mylid连通性的初步研究基础上，以更强耦合的物理/生物方法更深入地解决变异性及其原因的问题。这些合作科学家将探讨贻贝、加州贻贝和加洛省贻贝在空间和时间尺度上的连通性假设，研究贻贝在不同地点和物种之间的一致性。这将通过(a)每年在圣地亚哥县的18个地点进行几次幼虫外植，以生成痕量元素指纹的参考签名，(b)收集新幼虫并对其幼虫壳进行元素分析，以确定起源的地点和地区，以及(c)在2个海湾地点收集加洛省m.s gallprovincialis和2个开放海岸地点收集加利福尼亚m.s californianus的高频数据，以每周分析新物种的多样性。它与化学信号和招募来源有关，并用于收集人口统计数据（特定尺寸的存活率，生长和繁殖力）。通过对沿海海洋和海湾的数值扩散模拟，以及随后与基于指纹的鱼群来源评估进行比较，他们将研究环流、本地与远程强迫、海湾-海洋相互作用、偶发事件和幼虫属性（垂直行为、释放时间、浮游持续时间）在定义连通性变异性方面的作用。人口统计数据将与连通性数据相结合，对观察到的myliid连通性模式的种群和元种群水平适应度结果进行建模。该项目的主要教育内容包括培训本科生和研究生进行综合沿海海洋物理学、幼虫生态学和人口学的跨学科研究。连通性研究的结果直接适用于商业和自然双壳类种群的保护和管理，并考虑到贻贝的关键结构作用，以保护岩岸栖息地。

Larval connectivity, the extent to which sub-populations exchange larvae, has emerged as a fundamental concept within the diverse arenas of population ecology, biotic resource management, biodiversity conservation, invasive species control, and habitat restoration. However, determining dispersal trajectories of larvae and their scales of variability remain a major challenge. Here Drs. Levin, Muccino and Razmussen will use an integration of prospective modeling and retrospective (elemental fingerprinting) approaches to assess variability in larval connectivity and its demographic consequences for mytilid mussel populations in southern California. This project builds on initial studies of mytilid connectivity to address in greater depth and with a more strongly coupled physical/biological approach, questions of variability and its causes. These collaborating scientists will address hypotheses concerning the spatial and temporal scales of connectivity for mussels, Mytilus californianus and Mytilus galloprovincialis, examining their consistency among sites and species. This will be accomplished through (a) larval out-planting at 18 locations in San Diego County several times a year to generate reference signatures for trace elemental fingerprinting, (b) collection of recruits and elemental analyses of their larval shells to determine sites and regions of origins, and (c) high frequency data collection at 2 bay locations for M. galloprovincialis and 2 open coast locations for M. californianus to carry out weekly analysis of recruitment variability, its link to chemical signals and recruit origins, and for collection of demographic data (size-specific survivorship, growth and fecundity). Through numerical dispersal simulations of the coastal ocean and bays, and subsequent comparisons to fingerprinting based assessment of recruit origins, they will examine the roles of circulation, local vs. remote forcing, bay-ocean interaction, episodic events, and larval attributes (vertical behavior, release times, planktonic duration) in defining the variability of connectivity. Demographic data will be combined with connectivity data to model the population and meta-population level fitness consequences of observed mytilid connectivity patterns.Key educational elements of this project include the training of undergraduate and graduate students to conduct inter-disciplinary research that integrates coastal ocean physics, larval ecology and demography. The results of connectivity studies have direct applicability to conservation and management of commercial and natural bivalve populations, and given the key structural role of mussels, to the conservation of rocky shore habitats.