Ecology and Nutrition of Invertebrate Larvae in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica and Monterey Bay, CA: Use of Phytoplanktonand Non-phytoplankton Food Resources

许多底栖海洋无脊椎动物，包括极地物种，产生的幼虫必须在浮游生物中存活一段时间才能进入底栖成年种群。因此，了解影响幼虫存活的因素对于了解幼虫的招募和成虫种群的维持至关重要。这项研究将阐明其中最重要的因素之一：营养。幼虫可以通过颗粒食物、溶解的有机物质和/或由父母提供的蛋黄来滋养。这些来源对不同类型幼虫的相对作用还知之甚少。该项目将在两个截然不同的环境中研究可比较的幼虫(小行星和棘球幼虫；摄食和不摄食)；加利福尼亚州的蒙特利湾，那里的初级生产力和浮游植物产量在一年中的大部分时间里都很高；以及南极洲的麦克默多湾，那里的浮游植物产量和生物量在一年中的大部分时间里都明显地季节性和极低。这项研究将对了解不同营养环境如何影响幼虫的生长、存活和随后进入成虫种群的可获得性以及影响幼虫营养模式的进化具有重要意义。

Many benthic marine invertebrates, including polar species, produce larvae that must survive a period in the plankton before setting into benthic adult populations. Understanding the factors that influence larval survival therefore is crucial for understanding recruitment and the maintenance of adult populations. This study will clarify one of the most important of these factors: nutrition. Larvae may be nourish by particulate food, dissolved organic material, and/or yolk provided by the parent. The relative role of these sources for different types of larvae is poorly understood. This project will examine comparable larvae (asteroid and echinoid; feeding and nonfeeding) in two contrasting environments; Monterey Bay, California, where primary production and phytoplankton production are high during most of the year; and McMurdo Sound, antarctica, where phytoplankton production and biomass are markedly seasonal and extremely low during most of the year. The study will have important bearing on the understanding of how different nutritional environments affect larval growth, survival and subsequent availability of recruitment into adult populations and influence the evolution of larval nutritional modes.