INDIVIDUAL-BASED MODEL OF YOUNG-OF-THE-YEAR STRIPED BASS POPULATION-DYNAMICS .2. FACTORS AFFECTING RECRUITMENT IN THE POTOMAC RIVER, MARYLAND
Authored by Kenneth A Rose, ES Rutherford, JH Cowan, ED Houde
Date Published: 1993
DOI: 10.1577/1548-8659(1993)122<0439:ibmoyo>2.3.co;2
Sponsors:
United States Department of Energy (DOE)
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
Platforms:
No platforms listed
Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
Flow charts
Mathematical description
Model Code URLs:
Model code not found
Abstract
An individual-based model of the population dynamics of
young-of-the-year striped bass Morone saxatilis in the Potomac River, Maryland, was used to test the hypothesis that historically high
recruitment variability can be explained by changes in environmental and
biological factors that result in relatively small changes in growth and
mortality rates of striped bass larvae. The four factors examined were
(1) size distribution of female parents, (2) zooplankton prey density
during the development of striped bass larvae, (3) density of competing
larval white perch M. americana, and (4) temperature during larval
development. Simulation results suggest that variations in female size
and in prey for larvae alone could cause 10-fold variability in
recruitment. But no single factor alone caused changes in vital rates of
age-0 fish that could account for the 145-fold variability in the
Potomac River index of juvenile recruitment. However, combined positive
or negative effects of two or more factors resulted in more than a
150-fold simulated recruitment variability. suggesting that combinations
of factors can account for the high observed annual variability in
striped bass recruitment success. Higher cumulative mortality of feeding
larvae and younger life stages than of juveniles was common to all
simulations, supporting the contention that striped bass year-class
strength is determined prior to metamorphosis.
Tags
Water-quality
Marine fish
Larvae
Chesapeake bay
Natural mortality
Morone-saxatilis walbaum
Southern bluefin tuna
Early life-history
Speculative hypothesis
Thunnus-maccoyii