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Abstract Blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) supports lucrative Mid‐Atlantic crustacean fisheries and plays an important role in estuarine ecology, so their larval transport and recruitment dynamics in the Maryland Coastal Bays system were investigated using simulated and observed surface drifters. Relative contributions of winds, tides, density gradients, and waves to larval recruitment success were identified during the spawning season, particularly under hurricane conditions in 2014. Based on temperature (e.g., 19–29°C) and salinity conditions (e.g., 23–33 PSU), particles representing virtual blue crab larvae were released into the model domain from early June to late October 2014. During the spawning season, variations in the larval recruitment success caused by wind speed and direction, tides (e.g., affecting through inlets), density gradients (e.g., salinity variations), and surface gravity waves were 17%, 4%, −9%, and 17%, respectively. During Hurricane Arthur (2014), variability of self‐recruitment success caused by density gradients are negligible while by other three factors are comparable at 3%–4%. Surface drifter experiments support the modeling results that larval recruitment success is strongly associated with the coastal circulation. The high (low) self‐recruitment success in the Assawoman and Chincoteague Bays (Sinepuxent Bay) is related to the locally weak (strong) circulation; released larvae escape from inlets are likely recruited to southern Fenwick and northern Assateague Islands, and the coastal regions outside the Chincoteague Inlet. Understanding physical factors influencing larval recruitment success helps resource managers make informed decisions about habitat restoration and harvest regulations, in addition to seafood‐related food security.
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This content will become publicly available on June 16, 2026
Fine-scale hydrodynamics around St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Part II: variability in residence time in coastal bays
Coastal currents can vary dramatically in space and time, influencing advection and residence time of larvae, nutrients and contaminants in coastal environments. However, spatial and temporal variabilities of the residence time of these materials in coastal environments, such as coastal bays, are rarely quantified in ecological applications. Here, we use a particle tracking model built on top of the high-resolution hydrodynamic model described in Part 1 to simulate the dispersal of particles released in coastal bays around a key and model island study site, St. John, USVI without considering the impact of surface waves. Motivated to provide information for future coral and fish larval dispersal and contaminant spreading studies, this first step of the study toward understanding fine-scale dispersal variability in coastal bays aimed to characterize the cross-bay variability of particle residence time in the bays. Both three-dimensionally distributed (3D) and surface-trapped (surface) particles are considered. Model simulations show pronounced influences of winds, intruding river plumes, and bay orientation on the residence time. The residence times of 3D particles in many of the bays exhibit a clear seasonality, correlating with water column stratification and patterns of the bay-shelf exchange flow. When the water column is well-mixed, the exchange flow is laterally sheared, allowing a significant portion of exported 3D particles to re-enter the bays, resulting in high residence times. During stratified seasons, due to wind forcing or intruding river plumes, the exchange flows are vertically sheared, reducing the chance of 3D particles returning to the bays and their residence time in the bays. For a westward-facing bay with the axis aligned the wind, persistent wind-driven surface flows carry surface particles out of the bays quickly, resulting in a low residence time in the bay; when the bay axis is misaligned with the wind, winds can trap surface particles on the west coast in the bay and dramatically increase their residence time. The strong temporal and inter-bay variation in the duration of particles staying in the bays, and their likely role in larval and contaminant dispersal, highlights the importance of considering fine-scale variability in the coastal circulation when studying coastal ecosystems and managing coastal resources.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2318921
- PAR ID:
- 10652111
- Publisher / Repository:
- Frontiers
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Frontiers in Marine Science
- Volume:
- 11
- ISSN:
- 2296-7745
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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