Abstract
Evaluating factors affecting restoration of an endangered marine broadcast-spawning invertebrate using an individual-based model of white abalone
Highlights
Broadcast spawners have external fertilization, releasing gametes into the surrounding water (Levitan & Sewell 1998, Baker & Tyler 2001)
We explored the spatial structure of habitat and the spatial structure of the population, contributing to the body of work that explores the importance of spatial structure in population dynamics and conservation
We developed an individual-based model that explicitly incorporated temperature, density, and habitat-dependent life history processes for an endangered marine broadcast spawner
Summary
Broadcast spawners have external fertilization, releasing gametes into the surrounding water (Levitan & Sewell 1998, Baker & Tyler 2001). Reducing densities through exploitation and poaching can have dramatic negative impacts on the population dynamics of broadcast spawners. Abalones are marine broadcast spawners with a long life span (up to 30−40 yr; Cox 1960, Andrews et al 2013), slow movement, and highly variable recruitment (Hobday & Tegner 2000). The complex life history of abalones makes their population dynamics prone to environmental stochasticity and makes their populations vulnerable to intensive exploitation (Karpov et al 2000, Rogers-Bennett et al 2002). White abalone populations are on the brink of extinction, with low population density being the major threat (Stierhoff et al 2012, Catton et al 2016). White abalone are projected to reach the quasi-extinction threshold of 1000 individuals in the wild in the 15 yr (Catton et al 2016)
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