Observing larval transport processes affecting population connectivity : progress and challenges

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2007-09Author
Gawarkiewicz, Glen G.
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Monismith, Stephen G.
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Largier, John
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https://hdl.handle.net/1912/2782As published
https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2007.28DOI
10.5670/oceanog.2007.28Abstract
Population connectivity is inherently
bio-physical: it is determined by physical
transport and dispersion, as well as
biological processes such as timing of
spawning, larval behavior, and mortality.
Knowledge of connectivity is
essential for understanding ecosystem
responses to changing environmental
conditions. It establishes the spatial
scales over which a population is connected,
and in turn the primary spatial
scale of population interactions
and ecosystem dynamics. Concepts
in population connectivity were initially
developed in terrestrial ecology,
where dispersal may occur at different
life stages. In the simplest form, a one-dimensional
dispersal curve describes
the distribution of settlers away from a
source region as a function of distance.
As this spatial distribution varies in
time, the “dispersal kernel” defines a
spatial probability density function of
settlers aggregated over time (see, e.g.,
Okubo and Levin, 2002). This dispersal
kernel may be three dimensional,
but is often reduced to two dimensions
(e.g., animals on a plain) or one
dimension (e.g., animals living along
the land-water interface).
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Author Posting. © Oceanography Society, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of Oceanography Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Oceanography 20, 3 (2007): 40-53.