How do Estuarine Turbidity Maxima Entrap Particles, Retain Zooplankton, and Promote Recruitment of Fish?

University Of Maryland Center For Environmental Sciences, Cambridge MD

Investigators

Abstract

00-02529 and 00-02543 This is an interdisciplinary study to investigate fundamental physical and biological processes in the Estuarine Turbidity Maximum (ETM) of Chesapeake Bay. ETM zones located in the upper reaches of estuaries, near the interface between salt and fresh water, are known to entrap fine sediments and to entrap or aggregate zooplankton and early-life stages of fish. In Chesapeake Bay, a well-defined but poorly understood ETM occurs in the upper Bay. It is hypothesized that the ETM entraps sediment particles and planktonic organisms which in turn support enhanced zooplankton production and growth and survival of young anadrornous fish. This research will characterize constituents and evaluate processes operating in the Chesapeake ETM, including sediments and organisms that are of major ecological significance in the Bay. A key species in the ETM is the copepod, Eurytemora affinis, which is a major food of larvae and juveniles of anadromous fishes (striped bass, white perch, shads, river herrings).