Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

PC03 Undergraduate Education

Date: Tuesday, February 13, 2001

Location: Southwest Hall

Schwartz, R, S, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA, USA, rschwart@brynmawr.edu

Jumars, P, A, Darling Marine Center, Univ. Maine, Walpole, ME, USA, jumars@maine.edu

TIDAL MODULATION OF NOCTURNAL EMERGENCE IN THE MYSID NEOMYSIS AMERICANA

Emergence-trap samples collected hourly reveal that nightly emergence of Neomysis americana from the seabed is strongly modulated by the tides. Pyramidal emergence traps each covered an area of one square meter of the seabed. Paired traps were deployed to account for spatial variation and were deployed under different phasings of daylight and tides during summer of 2000 in the Damariscotta estuary at Walpole, Maine, U.S.A. Contents were collected hourly by divers. A significant proportion of the variance in emergence rates was explained by the phase of the tide. Emergence rates correlated positively with estimated upstream tidal velocities. This pattern is consistent with planktonic abundances of other mysid taxa sampled by Kimmerer and coworkers in San Francisco bay, supporting their suggestion of a role in estuarine retention. Such widespread emergence behaviors may be important in benthic-pelagic coupling.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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