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

许多底栖海洋无脊椎动物，包括极地物种， 幼虫必须在浮游生物中存活一段时间， 底栖成体种群 了解影响因素 因此，幼虫的存活对于理解补充至关重要， 维持成年人口。 这项研究将澄清其中一个 其中最重要的因素是：营养。 幼虫可以得到滋养 通过颗粒食物、溶解的有机物质和/或蛋黄， 父母 这些来源对不同类型的 对幼虫了解甚少。 该项目将研究可比的 幼虫（小行星和海胆;喂养和非喂养）在两个 对比鲜明的环境;加州蒙特利湾，主要的 生产和浮游植物生产在大部分时间都很高， 年;和麦克默多湾，南极洲，那里的浮游植物生产和 生物量具有明显的季节性，在一年的大部分时间里都非常低。 这项研究将对理解如何 不同的营养环境会影响幼虫的生长、存活和 随后可招募到成年人口中， 影响幼虫营养模式的进化。

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.