Search strategy and identification
In 2014, 2015, and 2021 we scoped the Web of Science Core Collection database for records on marine invertebrate life histories. First, in 2014, we screened records in the peer-reviewed journals ‘Biological Bulletin’ and ‘Marine Biology’ using the following search terms:
Topic: Larva* OR Hatch* OR Fertili* OR Metamorph* OR Develop* or Settle* AND Publication name: Biological Bulletin
Topic: Larva* OR Hatch* OR Fertili* OR Metamorph* OR Develop* or Settle* AND Publication name: Marine Biology
For Biological Bulletin, 1,873 references were identified for screening—1,674 were then assessed for eligibility, and 225 records were retained for the literature map. For Marine Biology, 2,629 references were identified, and sorted based on relevance. We screened the first 1,000 records, retaining 680 records to check for eligibility, and finally included 120 records in the literature map.
In 2015, we used the following search string in Web of Science:
Topic: Marine AND Invert* AND (Larva* or Hatch* or Fertili* or Metamorph* or Develop* or Settle* or ”life history” or Plankto* or Lecitho* or Embryo* or Gamet* or Egg* or Sperm* or Juvenil*)
We identified 241 duplicate articles, leaving 12,313 records for screening. We assessed 3,438 full-text references for eligibility and retained 1,035 for the literature map.
Finally, in 2021 we used the same search string used in 2015, but we searched for records published between 2016 and 2021. The search string produced 2,333 records for screening—we assessed 805 full-text articles for eligibility and retained 336 for the final literature map.