@article{eggleston_millstein_plaia_2015, title={Timing and route of migration of mature female blue crabs in a tidal estuary}, volume={11}, DOI={10.1098/rsbl.2014.0936}, abstractNote={Information on migration patterns is critical to using no-take migratory corridors and marine reserves to protect the spawning stock of commercially exploited species. Both active and passive acoustic tracking methods quantified movement of commercially and ecologically important blue crabs in the White Oak River estuary, NC, USA. We targeted post-mating female crabs migrating down-estuary to oceanic spawning grounds. Crabs travelled approximately 14.1 km mainly in deeper channels and over 12–26 days from mating areas to spawning grounds. No crabs were detected migrating down-estuary in the autumn and only 30% were detected migrating down-estuary in spring. None of the crabs detected near spawning grounds were detected or recaptured back up-estuary, suggesting that they either (i) do not return to the estuary after a one to two week period in the spawning area or (ii) were captured by fishermen. The results from this study demonstrate that (1) acoustic transmitters coupled with passive acoustic receivers provided reliable and valuable data on migration patterns of mature female blue crabs and (2) mature female blue crabs are capable of migrating primarily within deep channels to spawning grounds shortly after insemination.}, number={5}, journal={Biology Letters}, author={Eggleston, David and Millstein, E. and Plaia, G.}, year={2015} }
 @article{eggleston_reyns_etherington_plaia_xie_2010, title={Tropical storm and environmental forcing on regional blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) settlement}, volume={19}, ISSN={["1365-2419"]}, DOI={10.1111/j.1365-2419.2009.00530.x}, abstractNote={Global climate change is predicted to increase the frequency and magnitude of hurricanes, typhoons and other extreme cyclonic disturbance events, with little known consequences for recruitment dynamics of marine species that rely on wind-driven larval transport to coastal settlement and nursery habitats. We conducted a large-scale settlement study of the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) in the Croatan-AlbemarlePamlico Estuarine System (CAPES) in North Carolina, the second largest estuary in the US, during a 10-yr period that encompassed 35 tropical storms of varying magnitudes and tracks, to determine the effects of hurricane track, wind speed and direction as well as lunar-associated explanatory variables on spatiotemporal variation in settlement. The results suggest that much of the spatiotemporal variation in blue crab settlement within the CAPES is due to a combination of: (i) stochastic, meteorological events such as the number of tropical storm days during the fall recruitment season (28% of the monthly variation explained), (ii) the frequency and duration of wind events blowing toward the southwest and, to a lesser degree, (iii) periodic events such as hours of dark flood tide. Tropical storms and hurricanes expand the blue crab nursery capacity of the CAPES. The benefits of hurricane-forcing to megalopal settlement was dependent upon the storm track, with highest settlement events generally associated with ‘onshore’ storm tracks that made landfall from the ocean and moved inland along a southeasterly ⁄northwesterly path, or ‘coastal’ storms that followed a path roughly parallel to the coastline and were located <300 km offshore of the coast.}, number={2}, journal={FISHERIES OCEANOGRAPHY}, author={Eggleston, David B. and Reyns, Nathalie B. and Etherington, Lisa L. and Plaia, Gayle R. and Xie, Lian}, year={2010}, pages={89–106} }
 @article{eggleston_parsons_kellison_plaia_johnson_2008, title={Functional response of sport divers to lobsters with application to fisheries management}, volume={18}, ISSN={["1939-5582"]}, DOI={10.1890/06-1409.1}, abstractNote={Fishery managers must understand the dynamics of fishers and their prey to successfully predict the outcome of management actions. We measured the impact of a two-day exclusively recreational fishery on Caribbean spiny lobster in the Florida Keys, USA, over large spatial scales (>100 km) and multiple years and used a theoretical, predator-prey functional response approach to identify whether or not sport diver catch rates were density-independent (type I) or density-dependent (type II or III functional response), and if catch rates were saturated (i.e., reached an asymptote) at relatively high lobster densities. We then describe how this predator-prey framework can be applied to fisheries management for spiny lobster and other species. In the lower Keys, divers exhibited a type-I functional response, whereby they removed a constant and relatively high proportion of lobsters (0.74-0.84) across all pre-fishing-season lobster densities. Diver fishing effort increased in a linear manner with lobster prey densities, as would be expected with a type-I functional response, and was an order of magnitude lower in the upper Keys than lower Keys. There were numerous instances in the upper Keys where the density of lobsters actually increased from before to after the fishing season, suggesting some type of "spill-in effect" from surrounding diver-disturbed areas. With the exception of isolated reefs in the upper Keys, the proportion of lobsters removed by divers was density independent (type-I functional response) and never reached saturation at natural lobster densities. Thus, recreational divers have a relatively simple predatory response to spiny lobster, whereby catch rates increase linearly with lobster density such that catch is a reliable indicator of abundance. Although diver predation is extremely high (approximately 80%), diver predation pressure is not expected to increase proportionally with a decline in lobster density (i.e., a depensatory response), which could exacerbate local extinction. Furthermore, management actions that reduce diver effort should have a concomitant and desired reduction in catch. The recreational diver-lobster predator-prey construct in this study provides a useful predictive framework to apply to both recreational and commercial fisheries, and on which to build as management actions are implemented.}, number={1}, journal={ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS}, author={Eggleston, David B. and Parsons, Darren M. and Kellison, G. Todd and Plaia, Gayle R. and Johnson, Eric G.}, year={2008}, month={Jan}, pages={258–272} }