Wind and tidal influences on larval crab recruitment to an Oregon estuary

Abstract

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 351:177-188 (2007) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps07130 Wind and tidal influences on larval crab recruitment to an Oregon estuary G. Curtis Roegner1,*, David A. Armstrong2, Alan L. Shanks3 1NOAA Fisheries, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Point Adams Biological Field Station, PO Box 155, Hammond, Oregon 97013, USA 2School of Aquatic and Fisheries Science, PO Box 355020, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA 3University of Oregon, Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, PO Box 5389, Charleston, Oregon 97420, USA *Email: curtis.roegner@noaa.gov ABSTRACT: We investigated wind and tidal forcings that may facilitate transport of crab megalopae to a northeast Pacific coastal estuary. Daily abundance of crab megalopae was estimated from light trap collections made from March 1998 through December 2001 in Coos Bay, Oregon, USA. The Dungeness crab Cancer magister dominated the catch; Cancer Group I (C. productus and C. oregonensis), Hemigrapsus oregonensis and Pachygrapsus crassipes megalopae were also abundant enough for statistical evaluation. The abundance time series data were analyzed in relation to mean daily wind stress, maximum daily tidal range, and mean daily temperature residuals using cross-correlation and cross-Fourier techniques. Variation in wind stress had little relation to variation in crab megalopae abundance. Rather, crab megalopae were found to recruit to the estuary at periods close to the spring–neap tidal frequencies. Increased catches were not coincident with spring tides; most tests indicated that ingress occurred at times ranging from several days after spring tide to near the neap tide, but this varied among species and years. Tidal forcing appears to control crab recruitment to this estuarine system. KEY WORDS: Ocean-estuary coupling · Larval transport · Cancer magister · Hemigrapsus oregonensis · Pachygrapsus crassipes · Light trap · Northeast Pacific Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Roegner GC, Armstrong DA, Shanks AL (2007) Wind and tidal influences on larval crab recruitment to an Oregon estuary. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 351:177-188. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps07130 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 351. Online publication date: December 06, 2007 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2007 Inter-Research.