The Wahle Lab

Quick links to UMaine:

 
 Darling Marine Center

 School of Marine Sciences

 University of Maine

Devoloping Tools to Evaluate Spawning and Fertilization Dynamics on the Giant Sea Scallop, Placopecten magellanicus

Phase II: Field trials in experimental populations

Participants:

   R. Wahle (UMaine), Peter Jumars (UMaine), R. Maxwell (industry)

Funding agency:      

   NOAA/Scallop Research Set-aside

Funding Period:

   2010-2012

Project Summary:

  This collaboration represents phase II of research addressing the long-standing question of whether methodologies can be developed to directly assess spawning and fertilization success in wild scallop beds. The investigators propose to continue current research by addressing two objectives: (1) Develop a two dimensional spatial model predicting the concentration of sperm and effective range of fertilization in a sperm plume at varying distances from a source population of spawning males at different population densities under
scenarios of synchronous and asynchronous spawning; and (2) Conduct a sampling time series over experimental populations of scallops to quantify sperm loads and fertilization rates in order to (a) test model predictions from Objective 1 regarding the spatial pattern of sperm concentration and fertilization, (b) advance development of methodology to assess the reproductive performance of scallop populations, (c) determine the effect of a ten-fold difference population density on the spatial extent of the sperm plume; and (d) assess potential biases in fertilization estimates introduced by the fertilization assay technique. The outcome of these studies will provide empirical data to stock assessment scientists in need of a better understanding of the role of depensatory effects in the population dynamics of free-spawners, such as scallops, at low population densities.

Scallop research at UMaine

Interview with Rick Wahle

(Link to video)