Making Your Own Luck: Weak Vertical Swimming Improves Dispersal Success for Coastal Marine Larvae.

ABSTRACT: Dispersive early life stages are common in nature. Although many dispersing organisms ("propagules") are passively moved by outside forces, some improve their chances of successful dispersal through weak movements that exploit the structure of the environment to great effect. The larvae of many coastal marine invertebrates, for instance, swim vertically through the water column to exploit depth-varying currents, food abundance, and predation risk. Several swimming behaviors and their effects on dispersal between habitats are characterized in the literature, yet it remains unclear when and why these behaviors are advantageous. We addressed this gap using a mathematical model of larval dispersal that scored how well behaviors allowed larvae to simultaneously locate habitats, avoid predators,

SUBMITTER: Meyer AD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10822797 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature