Dynamics of Small-Scale Spatial Distributions of Zooplankton

生物海洋学的一个主要问题是 获得准确和及时的丰度估计， 微观动物（浮游动物）的分布， 海洋中的主要食草动物（草食动物）， 幼鱼和其他海洋食肉动物的主要食物。 浮游动物在垂直和垂直方向上的分布均呈斑块状， 水平尺度，它们的数量迅速波动， 高出生率和死亡率。 的传统方法 确定空间和时间变异性，基于精细- 网眼网收集，然后进行实验室计数， 因为它们不能检测到尖锐的 浮游动物斑块中的梯度或界面。 快更 需要更精确的技术来推动这一重要领域的发展 海洋学研究。 这个奖项是测试新的 技术，特别是浮游动物的声学调查 生态学，以确定斑块的规模，并将其与 海洋学特征 PI还在开发 必要的计算机化硬件和软件， 声学数据的分析。

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.