A simulation model of the population dynamics of two species of calanoid copepods ( Calanus.r pacificus and Pseudocalanus sp.) was forced with predation pressure from a genetic, hypothetical population of larval marine fish. Results of the model are sensitive to changes in parameters describing the dynamics of both predator and prey populations, including initial numbers, fecundity, growth, mortality, size of prey organisms and feeding selectivity of the predators; the relative importance of these parameters is tested by way of a brute-force sensitivity analysis. Using results from recent ichthyoplankton surveys in Dabob Bay, WA, USA, the model was also forced with predation from populations of larval Pacific herring ( Clupea harengus pallasi ) and Pacific whiting ( Merluccius productus ). Results of the various simulation runs lead to the conclusion that marine fish larvae can significantly impact the population dynamics of their calanoid copepod prey, but that the magnitude of this impact is highly dependent on species-specific values of various population parameters.
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Stephen M. Bollens (1988) studied this question.