DOI: 10.5061/dryad.g4f4qrft7
title: Biophysical larval dispersal models of observed bonefish (Albula vulpes) spawning events in Abaco, The Bahamas: An assessment of population connectivity and ocean dynamics

description: Biophysical models are a powerful tool for assessing population
 connectivity of marine organisms that broadcast spawn. Albula vulpes is a
 species of bonefish that is an economically and culturally important
 sportfish found throughout the Caribbean and that exhibits genetic
 connectivity among geographically distant populations. We created
 ontogenetically relevant biophysical models for bonefish larval dispersal
 based upon multiple observed spawning events in Abaco, The Bahamas in
 2013, 2018, and 2019. Biological parameterizations were informed through
 active acoustic telemetry, CTD casts, captive larval rearing, and field
 collections of related albulids and anguillids. Ocean conditions were
 derived from the Regional Navy Coastal Ocean Model American Seas dataset.
 Each spawning event was simulated 100 times using the program Ichthyop.
 Ten thousand particles were released at observed and putative spawning
 locations and were allowed to disperse for the full 71-day pelagic larval
 duration for A. vulpes. Settlement densities in defined settlement zones
 were assessed along with interactions with oceanographic features. The
 prevailing Northern dispersal paradigm exhibited strong connectivity with
 Grand Bahama, the Berry Islands, Andros, and self-recruitment to lower and
 upper Abaco. Ephemeral gyres and flow direction within Northwest and
 Northeast Providence Channels were shown to have important roles in larval
 retention to the Bahamian Archipelago. Larval development environments for
 larvae settling upon different islands showed few differences and
 dispersal was closely associated with the thermocline. Settlement patterns
 informed the suggestion for expansion of conservation parks in Grand
 Bahama, Abaco, and Andros, and the creation of a park in Eleuthera and the
 Berry Islands to protect fisheries. Further observation of spawning events
 and the creation of biophysical models will help to maximize protection
 for bonefish spawning locations and nursery habitat, and may help to
 predict year-class strength for bonefish stocks throughout the Greater
 Caribbean.
description: These data are bonefish <em>Albula vulpes </em>larval
 dispersal model outputs from the program Ichthyop (Lett et al. 2008). The
 Ichthyop model intakes support data that are included in this repository:
 Navy Coastal Ocean Model American Seas (NCOM AmSeas) — publicly available
 at https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/thredds-coastal/catalog/amseas/catalog.html — interpolated over an orthogonal grid created in ROMS (https://www.myroms.org/) that span the 2013–2014, 2018–2019, and 2019–2020 spawning seasons, settlement zone shapefiles created in ArcMap and adjusted to align with the orthogonal grid, a particle density schedule that represents bonefish larval development based upon the Japanese eel <em>Anguilla japonica</em>. 
description: The Ichthyop output NetCDF files were analyzed in R, and all
 support files can be opened and inspected in R. Ichthyop was used to run
 the simulation.