•The residual mean flow is important in horizontal
transport of zooplankton and fish
larvae onto and off of Georges Bank, thus causing major sources and sinks for Bank
populations
•
•The seeding of copepod populations from the Gulf of
Maine during winter has a significant
impact on the level of prey biomass for larval
fish during late spring and early summer. A corollary is that the population genetic makeup of the prey on Georges
Bank reflects the generic makeup of the
source populations
•
•Storms, especially during winter and early spring, as
well as impingement of warm-core rings, can
cause large exchanges/losses of zooplankton
and fish larvae from Georges Bank, thus increasing the apparent mortality rate of Bank populations
•
•Population size is continuously regulated by incremental
rather than episodic events, i.e. the time
scale of the variability of the driving forces
is of the same order as the generation time of the population.