successful determination of larval dispersal distances and subsequent settlement for long-lived pelagic larvae成功测定幼虫传播距离和后续结算为长寿远洋幼虫.pdf

Successful Determination of Larval Dispersal Distances and Subsequent Settlement for Long-Lived Pelagic Larvae ´ Pelayo Salinas-de-Leon, Timothy Jones, James J. Bell* School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand Abstract Despite its importance, we still have a poor understanding of the level of connectivity between marine populations in most geographical locations. Taking advantage of the natural features of the southeast coast of New Zealand’s North Island, we deployed a series of settlement stations and conducted plankton tows to capture recent settlers and planktonic larvae of the common intertidal gastropod Austrolittorina cincta (6–8 week larval period). Satellite image analysis and ground truthing surveys revealed the absence of suitable intertidal rocky shore habitat for A. cincta over a 100 km stretch of coastline between Kapiti Island to the south and Wanganui to the north. Fifteen settlement stations (3 replicates 65 sites), which were used to mimic intertidal habitat suitable for A. cincta, were deployed for two months around and north of Kapiti Island (at 0.5, 1, 5, 15, 50 km). In addition, we also conducted plankton tows at each settlement station when the stations were first deployed to collect A. cincta larvae in the water column. On collection, all newly settled gastropods and larvae in the plankton samples were individually isolated, and a species-specific microsatellite marker was used to positively identify A. cincta individuals. Most of the positively identified A. cincta settlers and larvae were collected at the first three sampling stations (,5 km). However, low numbers of A. cincta settlers