Effects of interannual environmental variability on the transport-retention dynamics in haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus larvae on Georges Bank
Authored by Changsheng Chen, Jason M Boucher, Yunfang Sun, Robert C Beardsley
Date Published: 2013
DOI: 10.3354/meps10462
Sponsors:
United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
United States National Science Foundation (NSF)
Massachusetts Ocean Partnership (MOP)
Shanghai Commissions
Platforms:
No platforms listed
Model Documentation:
ODD
Mathematical description
Model Code URLs:
Model code not found
Abstract
Georges Bank is a region of high biological productivity characterized
by a well-defined clockwise tidal rectified circulation gyre.
Fluctuations in the year-class strength of haddock Melanogrammus
aeglefinus on Georges Bank have been attributed to mortality during the
highly vulnerable larval stages. While predation and starvation greatly
impact on survival, advection to unfavorable regions may result in
greatly reduced numbers of individuals. For successful self-recruitment
to occur, individuals must remain within the shoal region of Georges
Bank until settlement. An individual-based model (IBM) was utilized to
estimate the retention of haddock eggs and larvae on Georges Bank
annually for 1995 through 2009. The IBM was driven by the Finite-Volume
Community Ocean Model (FVCOM) for the Gulf of Maine domain. Biological
components of haddock larvae were omitted to restrict analyses to the
impact of circulation on passive transport. Inflow over the Scotian
Shelf and tidal interaction patterns were identified as the major
drivers of variability in interannual transport-retention dynamics. The
simulations indicated that retention rates were highest in 2000 and
2003, and lowest in 1997. The above-average retention in 2000 and 2003
with anomalously large recruitment only in 2003 indicates that high
retention appears to be necessary but not sufficient to explain large
recruitment events of haddock on Georges Bank.
Tags
Vertical-distribution
Cod gadus-morhua
Early-life-history
Water column
Mackerel scomber-scombrus
Eastern north-atlantic
Browns bank
Recruitment
success
Tidal rectification
Shelf water