Abstract
Based on the observations that (I) recruitment is the main structuring factor of population dynamics of marine soft-sediment bivalves (i.e. long-term variation in adult stock densities reflects the long-term variation in zero-year class densities); and (II) recruitment success is density-dependent (i.e. recruitment densities are not related to adult stock densities, implying that the chance of becoming a recruit is smaller when adult stock densities, as well as the numbers of eggs produced, are higher); and on the assumption that settlement chance and initial post settlement mortality are key processes in determining recruitment of marine soft-sediment bivalves, statistical analyses of long-term recruitment data, laboratory and field experiments, and modeling exercises will be performed to explore the mechanisms through which long-term variations in stocks sizes of marine soft-sediment bivalves are influenced by density-dependent processes during and shortly after settlement.
Netherlands