Ecology and Nutrition of Invertebrate Larvae in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica and Monterey Bay, California: 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，产生的幼虫必须在浮游生物中存活一段时间，然后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成虫种群的招募和维持至关重要。这项研究将阐明其中一个最重要的因素：营养。幼虫可由母体提供的颗粒食物、溶解的有机物质和/或蛋黄滋养。这些来源对不同类型幼虫的相对作用尚不清楚。该项目将在两种不同的环境中研究类似的幼虫（小行星和棘足类；进食和非进食）；加州蒙特利湾，那里的初级产量和浮游植物产量在一年中的大部分时间都很高；南极洲的麦克默多湾，那里的浮游植物产量和生物量季节性明显，一年中的大部分时间都极低。这项研究将对了解不同的营养环境如何影响幼虫的生长、生存和随后进入成年种群的可能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.