Larval supply, settlement and recruitment In echinoderms

2Over the past 2 decades, numerous studies have addressed settlement and recruitment patterns of echinoderms, particularly species (mainly echinoids and asteroids) of ecological or economic importance. However, the processes which regulate the transitions from early life stages through to adulthood, and thereby determine the demography, distribution and abundance of echinoderm populations, remain poorly understood. The supply of planktonic larvae of echinoderms to benthic populations is regulated by a complex interaction of biotic and abiotic factors such as hydrodynamics, sea temperature, predation and starvation. Echinoderm larvae have been induced to settle on various substrata in laboratory studies and…