412 



Fishery Bulletin 100(3) 



1.0 



0.8 



0.6 - 



0.4 



0.2 



0.0 



B 



Light traps 

 Channel nets 



T 



T 



So. Bock 



S.E. LSI 



Figure 4 



(A) Mean current velocity averaged over 24 h (ni/hl, and (B) mean daily propor- 

 tional abundance of larvae caught by light traps and channel nets at So. Bock 

 (South Bock Cay) and at S.E. LSI (southeast Lee Stocking Island). Error bars 

 are 1 SE. 



bination is problematic, however, because there is no "com- 

 mon currency" between light traps and channel nets. The 

 volume of water sampled by light traps is unknown, and 

 capture rates of larvae are very low (Meekan et al., 2000), 

 so that the catches of light traps and channel nets can- 

 not be easily standardized. The value of these and other 

 larval sampling devices is that they provide a measure of 

 temporal and spatial variation in relation to larval supply. 

 However, the nonlinear relationship between current ve- 

 locity and larval abundances observed in our study could 

 compromise such estimates and further complicate stan- 

 dardization among sampling devices. Additional research 

 is necessary to account for method-dependent differences 

 in larval abundance among sites that differ in hydrody- 

 namic or other environmental conditions. 



Acknowledgments 



We thank A. King, C. McPCinney-Richards, K. Overholtzer, 

 and S. Whitcraft for field assistance, E. Maddox and B. 

 Victor for verifying larval identifications from our col- 

 lections, G. Almany and A. Summers for assistance with 

 light-trap electronics, and the staff of the Caribbean 

 Marine Research Center at Lee Stocking Island for logisti- 

 cal support. This research was supported by NSF grants 

 OCE-96-17483 and OCE-99-96053 (M. Hixon), NSF OCE- 

 99-96053 (M. Carr), and by NOAA National Undersea 

 Research Program grant 97-3109 (M. Hixon). 



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