The research proposed will extend the PI's recent findings that larval settlement of the coral, Agaricia agaricites, is specifically induced by a biochemical factor associated with certain cructose coraline red algae (CCA). The proposed research involves studies at the molecular level used to resolve chemical cues controlling larval settlement in the field. The specific objectives of the proposed research are: (1) to identify the biochemical inducers of settlement and metamorphosis of the coral larvae, from identified inductive species of CCA; (2) to determine the basis for the algal specificity to the coral larvae; (3) to determine whether the identified biochemical cues purified from CCA and found capable of inducing settlement and metamorphosis in the laboratory actually do so in the field; and (4) to determine the contributions of such biochemical cues to the control of settlement in the field relative to other environmental parameters. The significance of this research is to assess the contribution of larval recognition of natural chemical cues for settlement and metamorphosis in determining patterns of recruitment. This research is a first step in differentiating between ecological and molecular ("marine biotechnological") factors controlling settlement, metamorphosis and recruitment of marine invertebrates.
