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Quantification Of Settlement And Recruitment Processes In Bivalve Mollusks, Patrick Kelly Baker

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Studies were carried out to quantify abundance, mortality, and variability in these parameters, during settlement and recruitment of bivalve mollusks, using the oyster, Crassostrea virginica, as a primary model species. Most work was undertaken in the York River, Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, with additional work in the Indian River, Florida. The period chosen, in the bivalve early life history, was from the late planktonic larva to the early benthic juvenile. Studies were designed to specifically examine (a) abundance of late-stage larvae in the plankton, (b) the relationship between larval abundance and settlement, and (c) mortality immediately following settlement. Variability in abundance …