Dynamics of Small-Scale Spatial Distributions of Zooplankton

浮游动物小尺度空间分布动态

• 批准号: 8745282
• 负责人: Gary Kleppel
• 金额: $ 7.15万
• 依托单位: Nova Southeastern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1987
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1987-07-01 至 1990-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8745282&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dynamics; Small; Scale; Spatial; Distributions

One of the major problems in biological oceanography is obtaining accurate and timely estimates of abundance and distribution of the microscopic animals (zooplankton) which are the major plant eaters (herbivores) in the sea and which are the primary food of young fish and other oceanic carnivores. The distribution of zooplankton is patchy in both vertical and horizontal scales, and their numbers fluctuate rapidly because of high birth and mortality rates. Traditional methods of determining spatial and temporal variability, based on fine- mesh net collections followed by laboratory counting, are tedious and often inaccurate because they fail to detect sharp gradients or interfaces in the zooplankton patches. Faster and more accurate technology is required to advance this vital area of oceanographic research. This award is testing new technology, specifically acoustic investigations of zooplankton ecology, to determine scales of patchiness and relate them to oceanographic features. The PIs are also developing the necessary computerized hardware and software for a rapid analysis of the acoustic data.

生物海洋学的主要问题之一是准确、及时地估计微生物（浮游动物）的丰度和分布，这些动物是海洋中主要的食草动物（草食动物），也是幼鱼和其他海洋食肉动物的主要食物。 浮游动物在垂直和水平尺度上的分布都是不均匀的，并且由于高出生率和死亡率，它们的数量波动很快。 确定空间和时间变异性的传统方法基于细网收集，然后进行实验室计数，这种方法非常繁琐且通常不准确，因为它们无法检测浮游动物斑块中的尖锐梯度或界面。 需要更快、更准确的技术来推进海洋学研究的这一重要领域。 该奖项正在测试新技术，特别是浮游动物生态学的声学研究，以确定斑块的规模并将其与海洋学特征联系起来。 PI 还在开发必要的计算机化硬件和软件，以快速分析声学数据。