DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Life at the ocean surface: evolution and morphology of the Portuguese man of war

论文研究：海洋表面的生命：葡萄牙战舰的进化和形态

基本信息

批准号：
1701272
负责人：
Casey Dunn
金额：
$ 2.1万
依托单位：
Brown University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2017
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2017-06-01 至 2018-08-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1701272&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
DISSERTATION RESEARCH Life ocean surface

项目摘要

The Portuguese man-of-war, Physalia physalis, drifts at the ocean surface. It is highly specialized for this environment using a gas-filled float as a sail to catch the wind and long tentacles as fishing line to capture small fishes and crustaceans. Physalia physalis is known to many beach goers for its painful sting, but despite being familiar and abundant, little is known about most basic features of this species. In this project, researchers will use new microscopy techniques to answer old questions about the anatomy, development, and evolutionary origins of this unique species. The products of this study will be made freely accessible to the public and other scientists via open access publishing. The award will also support lessons in a local elementary school on topics related to this project, including lessons on ocean zones, plankton, pleuston, and marine invertebrate body plans.Physalia physalis is the only siphonophore (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) that is pleustonic (living at the interface between water and air). Siphonophores are colonial animals that are composed of zooids (bodies) that are each homologous to solitary animals. This project will describe fundamental features of P. physalis morphology and use phylogenetic comparative methods to reconstruct the evolutionary changes associated with a transition from a planktonic to pleustonic lifestyle. The primary product of this work will be a re-description of P. physalis, which also aims to address some of the following questions: how are zooids organized in P. physalis? How does P. physalis zooid morphology and colony organization differ from other siphonophore species, and what does this suggest about their evolution? Physalia physalis colonies have highly 3-dimensional branching structures. Optical Projection Tomography, as well as other immuno-fluorescent imaging methods, will be used to 3D-image fixed P. physalis tissue. These morphological descriptions will be compared with morphological descriptions available for planktonic siphonophores in order to investigate general patterns of character evolution within the siphonophore phylogeny.

葡萄牙的战争人Physalia Physalis在海面漂移。它使用充气的浮子作为帆捕捉风和长触角作为捕获小鱼和甲壳类动物的钓鱼线，在这种环境中非常专业。 Physalia Physalis因其痛苦的刺痛而闻名，但是尽管很熟悉和丰富，但对该物种的大多数基本特征知之甚少。在这个项目中，研究人员将使用新的显微镜技术来回答有关该独特物种的解剖学，发育和进化起源的旧问题。这项研究的产品将通过开放式出版使公众和其他科学家可以自由访问。该奖项还将在当地的小学上提供与该项目有关的主题的课程，包括有关海洋区，浮游生物，pleuston和海洋无脊椎动物身体计划的课程。Physaliaphysalis是唯一的siphonophore（cnidaria：cnidaria：hydrozoa），是pleustonic（居住在interface in Interface in Interface in Interface）。 siphonophores是由殖民动物组成的殖民动物，每个动物（身体）与孤立动物同源。该项目将描述P. Physalis形态的基本特征，并使用系统发育比较方法来重建与从浮游生物到Pleustonic生活方式的过渡相关的进化变化。这项工作的主要产物将是对Physalis的重新描述，该重新描述还旨在解决以下一些问题：在P. Physalis中如何组织动物？ P. Physalis菌群形态和菌落组织与其他siphonophore物种有何不同，这对它们的进化有何暗示？ Physalia Physalis菌落具有高度3维的分支结构。光影投影层析成像以及其他免疫荧光成像方法将用于3D图像固定的P. Physalis组织。这些形态学描述将与可用于浮游siphonophotores的形态描述进行比较，以研究虹吸管系统发育中特征进化的一般模式。