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Houde Fisheries Research Laboratory |
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Role of Estuarine Turbidity Maximum (ETM) |
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Representative Publications North, E. W. and E. D. Houde. 2006. Retention mechanisms of white perch (Morone americana) and striped bass (Morone saxatilis) early-life stages in an estuarine turbidity maximum: an integrative fixed-location and mapping approach. Fisheries Oceanography 15:429-450. Shoji, J., E. W. North and E. D. Houde. 2005. The feeding ecology of Morone americana larvae in the Chesapeake Bay estuarine turbidity maximum: the influence of physical conditions and prey concentrations. Journal of Fish Biology 66:1328-1341. Related Links |
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Recruitments of anadromous fishes are tightly coupled to the physics and biology of the highly turbid, salt-fresh transition zone of estuaries. ETMs are physical features at the heads of coastal plain estuaries. They trap sediment, detritus, zooplankton and early-life stages of fish. Our BITMAX (Biophysical Interactions in the Maximum Turbidity Zone) project, funded by the National Science Foundation, is a multidisciplinary program advancing fundamental knowledge of ETM structure and dynamics. The ETM enhances trophic transfer from microbes to plankton to fish. The multidisciplinary research addresses two hypotheses of direct importance to recruitment of anadromous striped bass and white perch: 1) abundant food and stable stratification in the ETM enhance feeding conditions and production of zooplankton and fish larvae, and 2) life-history strategies of fishes are adapted to respond to pulses in ETM circulation patterns. The research is conducted through coordinated field, laboratory, and numerical modeling experiments in the ETM region of Chesapeake Bay. |