The evolutionary strategy of spreading reproductive output over many years is a way of ensuring some reproductive success through long periods of poor larval survival (Leaman and Beamish 1984).
Endoparasitoid species often display elaborate physiological adaptations to enhance larval survival within the host, such as the co-option of endosymbiotic viruses for compromising host immune defenses.
The students looked into water velocity, gravel sizes, stream carrying capacity and redd (nest) destruction by later nest builders, larval survival and migration.
Occasionally however, physical and biotic conditions are favorable, larval survival is high, and large year-classes result.
Despite the importance of larval survival to predict recruitment, not much is known about the biology of phyllosoma larvae.
This hypothesis, though, views larval survival and successful recruitment as chance events, and numerous studies on larval behavior and ecology have shown this to be false.
The relative importance of these sources in any country varies according to the conditions during the adverse period of larval survival.
The result was increased larval survival and the eventual rebound of the population.
Furthermore, Peterman and Bradford (1987) did not find a strong relationship between the larval survival rates documented adjacent to wind/storm events and recruitment levels observed months afterward.
They use sensitive hairs on their abdomen to determine whether the soil moisture content is suitable for larval survival and development.