Abstract:

Hourly coastal hydrodynamic model simulations from the coupled ocean-atmosphere-wave-sediment-transport (COAWST) modeling system were used to resolve surface fields of temperature (T) and salinity (S), coincident with drifter location and trajectory, in order to compute habitat suitability indices (HSI) of oyster larvae condition within the water column during the generalized growth (Days 0-14) and settlement (Days 14-28) phases. Computations of HSI_T, HSI_S, as well as a "combined effects" model of HSI_TxS were used to track hourly oyster larvae location, trajectory, and condition from various release sites (Drum Bay, LA; Biloxi Bay, MS; Pass aux Herons, AL) to investigate the likelihood of transport from upstream oyster larvae seed-grounds, and associated oyster larvae health during transit, prior to settlement on existing MS oyster reefs. This dataset contains the simulations results for oyster larvae trajectory and condition in Biloxi Bay, Mississippi from 2017-05-29 to 2017-10-02. The related data from the other two sites are available under GRIIDC Unique Dataset Identifiers (UDIs): MS.x841.000:0004 (DOI: 10.7266/VY9DED3G) and MS.x841.000:0006 (DOI: 10.7266/16TX911K).

Suggested Citation:

Scott Milroy, Kemal Cambazoglu, Jerry Wiggert, and Chudong Pan. 2020. Habitat suitability index (HSI) model results for oyster larvae trajectory and condition, COAWST_2017_Grp16_Srf_d02 drifter simulation released from Biloxi Bay, Mississippi from 2017-05-29 to 2017-10-02. Distributed by: Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Information and Data Cooperative (GRIIDC), Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/N62BJWTZ

Purpose:

These data were created to provide insight into the advective and environmental forcings which determine oyster larvae transport and coincident growth/settlement condition.

Data Parameters and Units:

Year (simulation year; unitless), Month (simulation month; unitless), Day (simulation day; unitless), Hour (simulation hour; unitless), CumDays (cumulative days of simulation; days), lon (longitude of drifter/larvae location; decimal degrees N), lat (latitude of drifter/larvae location; decimal degrees W), depth (depth of drifter/larvae location; m), Temp (water temperature @ drifter/larvae location; degrees Centigrade), Salt (salinity @ drifter/larvae location; PSU), HSI_Temp (calculated habitat suitability index for oyster larvae, based on water temperature; unitless), HSI_Sal (calculated habitat suitability index for oyster larvae, based on salinity; unitless), HSI_Mult ("TxS combined effects" habitat suitability index for oyster larvae, multiplicative method; unitless), HSI_Min ("TxS combined effects" habitat suitability index for oyster larvae, "Liebig Law of Minimum" method; unitless), HSI_GM ("TxS combined effects" habitat suitability index for oyster larvae, preferred method using geometric mean; unitless), CumHr (cumulative hours of simulation; hours)

Methods:

During HSI model analysis, environmental parameters were used to define a normalized score of habitat suitability from 0.00 to 1.00 based on a comprehensive review of published literature values for temperature and salinity preferences for oyster larvae. The resultant HSI response curves to temperature and salinity were applied as a complex logistic “curve” defined by four critical values (the lower limit (LL) for survival; the lower threshold for optimal condition (LO); the upper threshold for optimal condition (UO); and the upper limit (UL) for survival), following Thornton & Lessem (1978). HSI-T & HSI-S were evaluated singly, and as a combined-effects (HSI-T⨯S) model using the geometric mean of HSI-T & HSI-S.

Provenance and Historical References:

Thornton, K. W., & Lessem, A. S. (1978). A Temperature Algorithm for Modifying Biological Rates. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 107(2), 284–287. doi:10.1577/1548-8659(1978)107<284:atafmb>2.0.co;2

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