Collaborative Research: SGER: Are Meroplankton Transported Offshore by Upwelling, and Onshore by Downwelling?

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The role of larval supply in structuring marine communities is a hot topic in marine ecology. Researchers have investigated so-called "supply side ecology" or the "bottom up effects" of larval supply and have attempted to relate the rate of larval supply or recruitment to a population to currents that carry larvae away from or to settlement sites. Coastal upwelling and downwelling are a particular focus of these studies. In this SGER, investigators will test the hypothesis that the larvae of coastal barnacles are carried offshore by upwelling and shoreward by downwelling. Vertically stratified zooplankton samples and physical oceanographic data that resolve the cross-shelf oceanographic structure and larval distribution will be collected along a transect of stations off southern Oregon. The investigators predict that the larvae will behave like passive particles. Passive particles remain with a water mass and, hence, the distribution of passive-larvae should significantly correlate with water mass physical characteristics (e.g., salinity and temperature). The distribution of nonpassive- larvae, if they move between water masses, should not be correlated with a water mass' physical characteristics. The hypothesis that upwelling and downwelling affect distributions of larval barnacles and meroplankton is so central to current thinking in benthic ecology that a clear test of the hypothesis, no matter the outcome, will be of great interest and utility to the science. Broader impacts include participation of students at all levels by combining with an active award by Shanks in the NSF Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) program. Research and observations will be shared with local commercial fishing community through the Scientists and Fisherman Exchange (SAFE) program. In addition, research results will be included in the process of establishing the marine reserve system in Oregon.