Inter-Research > MEPS > v248 > p297-303  
MEPS
Marine Ecology Progress Series

via Mailchimp

MEPS 248:297-303 (2003)  -  doi:10.3354/meps248297

Trace elemental fingerprinting of gastropod statoliths to study larval dispersal trajectories

Danielle C. Zacherl1,2,*, Patricio H. Manríquez3, Georges Paradis4, Robert W. Day5, Juan Carlos Castilla3, Robert R. Warner1, David W. Lea4, Steven D. Gaines1

1Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
2Department of Organismic Biology, Ecology and Evolution, 621 Charles E. Young Drive South, PO Box 951606, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1606, USA
3Estación Costera de Investigaciones Marinas and Departamento de Ecología, Centro para Estudios Abanzados en Ecología y Biodiversidad, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, Chile
4Department of Geological Sciences and Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
5Zoology Department, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia

ABSTRACT: Larval statoliths of the temperate neogastropod Concholepas concholepas (Bruguière, 1789) appear to have great utility for reconstructing larval dispersal history. Hatching marks on the statoliths seem to demarcate the natal core of recent recruits. Analysis of individual larval statoliths by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) indicates detectable levels of multiple trace elements. Differences in Ba/Ca, Zn/Ca, and Pb/Ca in the larval core of C. concholepas statoliths from 3 geographically separated sites in Chile suggest these mineralized hard parts could function as natural tags of natal origin and hence be useful in ecological studies of larval dispersal pathways.


KEY WORDS: Concholepas concholepas · Larvae · Dispersal · Statolith · Trace elements · LA-ICP-MS


Full text in pdf format
 Previous article Next article