Ta. Ebert, THE CONSEQUENCES OF BROADCASTING, BROODING, AND ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION IN ECHINODERM METAPOPULATIONS, Oceanologica acta, 19(3-4), 1996, pp. 217-226
Different modes of reproduction were examined in the context of entire
life cycles for seven starfish species so that adult survival could b
e compared with reproductive output and first year survival. Data were
assembled from the literature and included two asexual species, Linck
ia multifora and Nepanthia belcheri; two brooders, Asterina phylactica
acid Leptasterias hexactis; one species with benthic eggs that does n
ot brood, Asterina gibbosa; one species with lecithotrophic developmen
t in the plankton, Patiriella pseudoexigua; and one planktotrophic spe
cies, Pisaster ochraceus. A negative correlation was found between fir
st-year survival and adult survival rates which also correlated with m
ode of reproduction: highest adult survival and lowest first-year surv
ival was found for P. ochraceus, the planktotrophic species, and lowes
t adult survival was coupled with highest first-year survival in asexu
al species. A matrix model was developed to explore the metapopulation
consequences of different modes of reproduction. Asexual species are
similar to species with planktonic larvae that also have long-lived ad
ults in that both are well insulated from the vagaries of planktonic l
ife, one by avoiding the plankton all together and the other by having
very low transition probabilities for the first year of life but high
transition probabilities for retention of adults in the population. S
pecies with short-lived adults and planktonic development of larvae ar
e more closely tied to changes in first-year survival rates with respe
ct to over-all dynamics of metapopulations.