Project overview
Considerable differences in abundance and seasonality between closely-located jellyfish populations have been discovered, as well as large differences in abundance from year to year. To start to understand the potential role that bottom-dwelling polyps have in forming and maintaining jellyfish populations, including how they affect the distribution of different species and cause between-population variation in jellyfish abundance, the project aimed to:
1) Describe the natural cycle of growth and reproduction of polyps of Aurelia aurita, Cyanea capillata and Cyanea lamarckii. Identify how the biotic and abiotic factors influence observed patterns of distribution, abundance and reproductive ecology of polyps, and use these to inform future hypotheses-testing experiments.
2) Describe how population dynamics changes within the geographic range of species and how this affects jellyfish abundance and distribution, using C. capillata and C. lamarckii in the Irish Sea.
3) Describe between-population variation in the formation and maintenance of jellyfish populations, using A. aurita populations in the Solent as a case study.
1) Describe the natural cycle of growth and reproduction of polyps of Aurelia aurita, Cyanea capillata and Cyanea lamarckii. Identify how the biotic and abiotic factors influence observed patterns of distribution, abundance and reproductive ecology of polyps, and use these to inform future hypotheses-testing experiments.
2) Describe how population dynamics changes within the geographic range of species and how this affects jellyfish abundance and distribution, using C. capillata and C. lamarckii in the Irish Sea.
3) Describe between-population variation in the formation and maintenance of jellyfish populations, using A. aurita populations in the Solent as a case study.
