Vol. 53 - Alaska Resources Library and Information Services

fecundity to derive potential larval hatch.
Correlate annual reproductive
effort lagged to population abundance of juveniles.
6) Conduct several consecutive years of larval surveys to compare
initial abundance at hatch and survivorship at metamorphosis to later
abundance of specific juvenile year-classes.
7) Incorporate physical oceanographic events (notably current
patterns and rates, and storm events) to examine the annual direction
and extent of larval transport.
Use information to gauge the extent of
settlement onto optimal "refuge" habitat as a prediction of O+
survivorship.
8) Determine lower lethal thermal limits of zoeae and their
energetic-growth responses to very low temperatures as an indication of
potential survival in years of below-average cold (e.g., 1976).
9) Study food preferences of larvae and also feeding rates as a
function of temperature and prey density to address requirements for
adequate growth and the possibility of starvation.
10) Determine areas along the NAS and in Bristol Bay where major
populations of young juveniles occur (0+ through 4+ age-classes).
11) Characterize the substrate and plant-animal assemblages
associated with juveniles to define "refuge" habitat.
Estimate the
extent of such habitat in different regions of the southeastern Bering
Sea.
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