UMD Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

Browse

Filters

20121

Settings

Subject: search.filters.subject.early life history ontogeny

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    ALTERNATIVE MIGRATORY PATHWAYS OF JUVENILE STRIPED BASS IN THE PATUXENT RIVER ESTUARY, MARYLAND
    (2012) Conroy, Christian William; Secor, David H.; Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Although highly migratory striped bass Morone saxatilis utilize spatially diverse and dynamic estuarine systems as nurseries, early dispersal behaviors have remained largely unknown. Using otolith chemistry, we identified consistent migratory and residence behaviors in juvenile striped bass year classes. Migrants were further separated by size and age into contingents that shared similar ontogenetic dispersal thresholds. We identified a small group of larval dispersers that moved to mesohaline waters prior to reaching 6 mm. Resident juveniles experienced better early growth that migrants. Small migrants had the lowest growth rates prior to dispersal, but afterward showed enhanced growth rate. Positive growth inflections were also observed for a group of migrants that reinvaded freshwater at larger sizes. Striped bass migration seems to be controlled by individual growth trajectories, where movement is driven by poor growth in the natal habitat.