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1. Spawning, embryogenesis, settlement, and post‐settlement development of the gorgonian Plexaura homomalla

   https://doi.org/10.1111/ivb.12319  

   Tonra, Kaitlyn J.; Wells, Christopher D.; Lasker, Howard R. (March 2021, Invertebrate Biology)

   Abstract Patterns of population biology and community structure can be studied by looking closely at the ontogeny and reproductive biology of reef‐building organisms. This knowledge is particularly important for Caribbean octocorals, which seem to be more resilient to long‐term environmental change than scleractinian corals and provide some of the same ecological services. We monitored the development of the black sea rod,Plexaura homomalla, a common, widely distributed octocoral on shallow Caribbean reefs, from eggs to three‐polyp colonies over the course of 10 weeks. Gametes were collectedex situon St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, during spawning events that occurred 3–6 days after the July full moon. Cleavage started 3.0 hr after fertilization and was holoblastic, equal, and radial. Embryos were positively buoyant until becoming planulae at 3 days after fertilization. Planulae were competent to settle 4 days after fertilization. Symbiodiniaceae began infecting polyps ~8 days after fertilization. Overall, development was typical for Caribbean octocorals, except for an increase in the number of embryos between 3.5 and 6.0 hr after fertilization. 

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2. Early post-settlement events, rather than settlement, drive recruitment and coral recovery at Moorea, French Polynesia

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-024-05517-y  

   Edmunds, Peter J; Maritorena, Stéphane; Burgess, Scott C (March 2024, Oecologia)

   Understanding population dynamics is a long-standing objective of ecology, but the need for progress in this area has become urgent. For coral reefs, achieving this objective is impeded by a lack of information on settlement versus post-settlement events in determining recruitment and population size. Declines in coral abundance are often inferred to be associated with reduced densities of recruits, which could arise from mechanisms occurring at larval settlement, or throughout post-settlement stages. This study uses annual measurements from 2008 to 2021 of coral cover, the density of coral settlers (S), the density of small corals (SC), and environmental conditions, to evaluate the roles of settlement versus post-settlement events in determining rates of coral recruitment and changes in coral cover at Moorea, French Polynesia. Coral cover, S, SC, and the SC:S ratio (a proxy for post-settlement success), and environmental conditions, were used in generalized additive models (GAMs) to show that: (a) coral cover was more strongly related to SC and SC:S than S, and (b) SC:S was highest when preceded by cool seawater, low concentrations of Chlorophyll a, and low flow speeds, and S showed evidence of declining with elevated temperature. Together, these results suggest that changes in coral cover in Moorea are more strongly influenced by post-settlement events than settlement. The key to understanding coral community resilience may lie in elucidating the factors attenuating the bottleneck between settlers and small corals. 

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3. Ledger Combiners for Fast Settlement

   https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64375-1_12  

   Fitzi, Matthias; Gazi, Peter; Kiayias, Aggelos; Russell, Alexander (December 2020, Theory of Cryptography (TCC 2020))

   null; Pietrzak, K. (Ed.)
4. Disequilibrium, Adaptation, and the Norse Settlement of Greenland

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-018-0020-0  

   Jackson, Rowan; Arneborg, Jette; Dugmore, Andrew; Madsen, Christian; McGovern, Tom; Smiarowski, Konrad; Streeter, Richard (October 2018, Human Ecology)
5. The Viking Age settlement pattern of Langholt, North Iceland: Results of the Skagafjörður Archaeological Settlement Survey

   https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2016.1203210  

   Steinberg, John M.; Bolender, Douglas J.; Damiata, Brian N. (July 2016, Journal of Field Archaeology)