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California Current & Barnacle larvae transport

California Current & Barnacle larvae transport. Mikaela Provost Physical Oceanography 12/2/2010. California Current. Eastern edge of the North Pacific Gyre. Moves south along the western coast of North America bringing cool water from Alaska to Baja California.

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California Current & Barnacle larvae transport

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  1. California Current &Barnacle larvae transport Mikaela Provost Physical Oceanography 12/2/2010

  2. California Current • Eastern edge of the North • Pacific Gyre. • Moves south along the western coast of North America bringing cool water from Alaska to Baja California.

  3. What sustains the CA current? - Westerlie winds drive the California current

  4. Upwelling is characteristic - Ekman transport offshore yields strong upwelling along the CA coast, supporting a high level of marine biodiversity pfeg.noaa.gov

  5. Sea Surface Temperature - Cool water, an indicator of upwelling. - Transport can be as much as 300 m3/sec - Strongest upwelling in summer

  6. Currents and barnacle recruitment Question facing many marine ecologists: Observe large fluctuations in the abundance of barnacle stock populations, and yet the environment seems to be highly productive. Each data point represents a total of 7 days of settlement of acorn barnacles on six 10 cm x 10 cm plates.

  7. Upwelling Intensity & Population Variability - Higher recruitment associated with weaker cases of upwelling. - Intertidal barnacle larvae carried offshore with strong upwelling, lower probability of encountering adult habitat for settlement.

  8. Reasons for variation in barnacle populations:

  9. References Alexander and Roughgarden. 1996. Larval Transport and Population Dynamics of Intertidal Barnacles: A Coupled Benthic/Oceanic Model. Ecological Monographs 66: 259-275 Farrell etal. 1991. Cross-shelf transport causes recruitment to intertidal populations in central California. Limnological Oceanography 36: 279-288. Shkedy and Roughgarden. 1997. Barnacle recruitment and population dynamics predicted from coastal upwelling. Oikos 80: 487-498. http://mlo.stanford.edu/barnacles.htm

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