Meeting Abstract
7.6 Jan. 4 Relationships Between Recruitment and Adult Distribution Among Pseudopterogorgia spp.on the Little Bahama Bank LASKER, HR*; JAMISON, JL; University at Buffalo; University at Buffalo hlasker@buffalo.edu
Recruitment of the octocoral Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae was monitored twice a year from May 2004 through June 2006 at 6 sites spanning 60 km along the southern edge of the Little Bahama Bank. In 2005 recruits of all Pseudopterogorgia spp. were collected from three depths at one of the sites, Cross Harbour, Great Abaco Is. Microsatellite loci were used to identify recruits of the six species found in the adult populations. At all sites and depths recruits were collected from twenty 1 m2 areas. More recruits were collected during May than November, which is consistent with the spawning information known for four of the species. There was a positive relationship between adult density and recruitment of P. elisabethae across the 8 sites, but temporal changes in adult density at the sites did not correlate with changes in recruitment. At Cross Harbour, Great Abaco Island, densities of adults varied between 9, 18 and 27 m for all six Pseudopterogorgia spp. Recruitment varied between depths and there was a positive relationship across depths between recruitment and adult density for P. bipinnata and P. elisabethae, which are known to surface brood. Among the known broadcast spawning species (P. acerosa and P. americana) there were differences in adult distribution over depth, but no relationship between recruitment and adult density across the depths. The data are generally consistent with the hypothesis that brooding species have more restrictive larval dispersal resulting in populations where recruitment is correlated with local adult density whereas broadcast spawning species disperse widely and have populations in which recruitment is independent of adult population size.
