Larval settlement assay

Until recently, most studies dealing with the chemical mediation of larval settlement have been conducted in still water. Although results that are obtained from still-water assays can be useful, the ecological relevance of these types of studies can be questioned because they do not incorporate ecologically realistic flow regimes into the design (Eckman 1983 Butman 1987). While it may be possible for small, weakly swimming, larvae to respond directly to chemical stimuli while they are in small volumes of still water or in the surface boundary layer, it is unclear that larvae would be able to respond to similar stimuli under natural flow conditions in the field (Butman 1987). 

---