Larval settlement in turbulent pipe flows

摘要

In two experiments, larval settlement was studied within a series of pipes, each containing steady, turbulent, flowing seawater. The study was designed to determine effects of flow (speed, turbulence intensity and wall shear stress) and surface orientation on rates of settlement of larvae of various taxa, and to relate variability in patterns of settlement among orientations and flows to the concomitant variability expected in rates of larval supply or delivery to the pipe walls. Patterns of settlement of all five taxa (the barnacle Balanus spp., the mussel Mytilus trossulus, the serpulid polychaete Pseudo- chitinopoma occidentalis, the cyclostome bryozoan Tubulipora sp., and the terebellid polychaete Eupolymnia heterobranchia) generally conformed to predicted patterns of larval supply to pipe walls (the larval transport flux).