Collaborative Research: Field test of larval behavior on transport and connectivity in an upwelling regime

背景：大多数沿海海洋物种的幼虫是游泳性的，通常游泳能力较弱。 因此，它们被认为是被沿海洋流广泛散布的。 然而，越来越多的证据表明，它们的行为会强烈影响它们的运输：一些留在河口，而另一些则在成虫和幼虫栖息地之间进行真正的迁徙，甚至到大陆架边缘再回来。幼虫运输的速率和方向被认为在很大程度上取决于垂直迁移的时间、持续时间和幅度以及幼虫在分层流中占据的平均深度。PI建议使用仿生漂流物提供行为如何影响跨大陆架和沿岸运输的第一个直接测试。这项研究将在一个持续上升流的地区进行，人们普遍认为，那里的强水流会淹没幼虫的游泳，限制成虫的补充。智力优点：了解调节幼体运输的基本机制，对于了解海洋生态和演变以及预测气候变化对海洋种群和群落的影响至关重要。该项目将提供第一个实验性的现场测试，幼虫的行为如何影响的速度，方向和距离的运输和人口连接在一个上升流制度。PI将测试三个假设：1.居住在风驱动的表层和垂直迁移低于该层保持幼虫更接近海岸相比，居住在表层或幼虫没有深度偏好和垂直迁移。 2.深水滞留增强了海岸附近向北的输运，垂直迁移导致沿海岸的平均位移减小，但方差增大.深度偏好和垂直迁移有显着的影响，浮游生物在上升流regions.The研究的保留和运输将比较直接测量模拟漂流与观察和模拟跨架幼虫分布，并与模拟沿岸运输。结果将广泛适用于上升流制度沿着大陆的西部边缘，和方法可以应用到非上升流系统在世界各地。更广泛的影响：拟议的研究将支持一名研究生和六名本科生在两个机构。 它还将为具有不同背景的大学生和高中生以及公众提供志愿者研究机会。这项研究将被纳入PI教授的大学课程，并将被添加到PI的两个机构的网站和访客展示中。 研究结果将通过PI的咨询协会分发给管理和设计海洋保护区网络的科学团队。

Background: The majority of larvae of coastal marine species are planktonic and generally weak swimmers. Thus, they are thought to be dispersed widely by coastal currents. However, there is accumulating evidence that their behavior can strongly influence their transport: some remain within estuaries, while others make true migrations between adult and larval habitats, even out to the edge of the continental shelf and back. Rates and directions of larval transport are thought to be determined largely by the timing, duration, and amplitude of vertical migrations and the mean depth that larvae occupy in stratified flows. The PIs propose to provide one of the first direct tests of how behavior affects across-shelf and alongshore transport using biomimetic drifters. The study will be conducted in a region of persistent upwelling, where strong currents are widely believed to overwhelm larval swimming and limit recruitment to adult populations. Intellectual merit: Knowledge of underlying mechanisms regulating larval transport is central to understanding ecology and evolution in the sea and anticipating the impacts of climate change on marine populations and communities. The project will provide the first experimental field-test of how larval behavior affects the rates, directions and distances of transport and population connectivity in an upwelling regime. The PIs will test three hypotheses: 1. Residence below the wind-driven surface layer and vertical migrations below that layer keep larvae closer to shore compared to residence in the surface layer or larvae without depth preferences and vertical migration. 2. Residence at depth enhances northward transport near shore, and vertical migration leads to decreased alongshore mean displacement but increased variance for a group.3. Depth preferences and vertical migrations have pronounced effects on retention and transport of plankton in upwelling regions.The study will compare direct measurements from mimetic drifters with observed and modeled cross-shelf larval distributions, and with modeled alongshore transport. Results will be broadly applicable to upwelling regimes along the western margins of continents, and the approach can be applied to non-upwelling systems throughout the world.Broader impacts: The proposed research will support a graduate student and six undergraduates at two institutions. It will also provide volunteer research opportunities for college and high school students with diverse backgrounds and for members of the public. The research will be included in college courses taught by the PIs, and will be added to websites and visitor displays at the PIs' two institutions. Results will be disseminated to science teams managing and designing Marine Protected Area networks through the PIs' advisory associations.