Highly episodic larval replenishment is common in many
marine organisms (see Bertness et al. 1992; Raimondi
1990, and references therein), and is of obvious importance
to the maintenance of population size (e.g. Roughgarden
et al. 1988; Hughes 1990). Often, recruitment
results in sharp increases in numbers over short time
intervals, followed by much longer periods of decline.
Local adult density can be expressed as a relatively simple
function of the number of prior residents, the size of the
last settlement pulse, and the post-settlement mortality
rate (e.g. Doherty 1991). In this study, population size in
species that were relatively una¤ected by post-recruitment
immigration increased due to the summer recruitment
pulse, and then declined for the next year until the