Collaborative Research: Linking Propulsive Morphology, Swimming Behavior and Sensory Perception by Marine Planktonic Protists to their Trophic Roles within Marine Food Webs

合作研究：将海洋浮游原生生物的推进形态、游泳行为和感官知觉与其在海洋食物网中的营养作用联系起来

• 批准号: 1129496
• 负责人: Houshuo Jiang
• 金额: $ 26.58万
• 依托单位: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-01 至 2014-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1129496&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Linking; Propulsive; Morphology

One of the central issues in biological oceanography is to understand the processes that regulate the biomass and distribution of phytoplankton in the ocean. The fate of most phytoplankton is to be consumed by grazers, and it is now generally accepted that marine planktonic protists are the most important grazers on phytoplankton, and that grazing by protists can fundamentally affect phytoplankton biomass and distribution in the ocean. Protists can become temporarily very abundant (up to tens of thousands per liter) and can grow nearly as rapidly as phytoplankton do, which gives them great potential to regulate phytoplankton populations. Adaptations by protists to feed selectively on the fastest growing species of phytoplankton and to reduce predation by metazoan zooplankton should enhance the coupling between phytoplankton growth and grazing, and therefore promote planktonic ecosystem stability. Compared to larger metazoan zooplankton such as copepods, relatively little is known about the morphological and behavioral adaptations in protists for selective feeding and predator avoidance. The PIs will study details of selective feeding behavior and predator avoidance behavior of free-swimming planktonic protists in 3-dimension using high-speed video. Under the same conditions, they will measure flow fields imposed by individual free-swimming protists using a time-resolving stereo micro-particle image velocimetry (microPIV) system. To gain a mechanistic understanding, they will also conduct empirical data-driven, reality-reproducing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of the protist-imposed flow fields. The results will be used to test the hypothesis that diversity and flexibility in propulsive morphology facilitates protists to achieve sophisticated swimming behaviors and sensory perception capabilities that adapt them for selective feeding and predator avoidance. These capabilities may also serve as important driving forces for protistan biodiversity, represented by various sizes, shapes, propulsive morphologies and motility patterns. Two graduate students will participate in this project and will receive training in plankton ecology and marine biology; in theoretical/computational/experimental plankton fluid mechanics; and in setting up and using sophisticated optical systems. Conducting research in the field of small-scale biological-physical interactions in plankton ecology requires interdisciplinary knowledge, and this training will benefit their preparation for conducting interdisciplinary research. The PIs will construct an easily-followed and interactive online learning module based on their results, and will make video clips of protistan behavior available to educators and the public at large through their web sites.

生物海洋学的中心问题之一是了解调节海洋浮游植物的生物量和分布的过程。大多数浮游植物的命运将被放牧者消费，现在普遍认为，海洋浮游生物的生物是浮游植物上最重要的放牧者，而生物学家的放牧可以从根本上影响浮游植物的海洋生物量和分布。生物可以暂时变得非常丰富（每升数万），并且几乎可以像浮游植物一样迅速地生长，这为他们提供了调节浮游植物种群的巨大潜力。原生地的适应性以选择性为食的浮游植物物种，并减少后生动物浮游植物的捕食，应增强浮游植物生长和放牧之间的耦合，从而促进浮游生物生态系统的稳定性。与较大的后生动物浮游生物（例如copepods）相比，关于原生生物的形态和行为适应性相对较少，选择性喂食和避免捕食者的避免。 PI将使用高速视频研究三维生物中自由晶体浮游生物的选择性喂养行为和捕食者回避行为的细节。在相同的条件下，他们将使用分时清晰的立体粒子图像速率（MicroPROVIV）系统来测量单个自由速度的生物施加的流场。为了获得机理的理解，他们还将对原生物施加的流场进行经验数据驱动的，实现现实的计算流体动力学（CFD）模拟。结果将用于检验以下假设：推进形态的多样性和灵活性促进生物学家实现复杂的游泳行为和感觉感知能力，以使其适应选择性喂食和避免捕食者的避免。 这些能力还可以作为Protistan生物多样性的重要驱动力，以各种大小，形状，推进形态和运动模式代表。两名研究生将参加该项目，并将接受浮游生物生态学和海洋生物学的培训；在理论/计算/实验浮游生物力学中；并在设置和使用复杂的光学系统时。在浮游生物生态学的小型生物体型相互作用领域进行研究需要跨学科知识，而这种培训将使他们在进行跨学科研究的准备工作。 PI将根据其结果来构建一个易于跟随和互动的在线学习模块，并通过其网站使教育工作者和大型公众可以使用Protistan行为的视频片段。