Instrumentation for the Analysis of Zooplankton Lipids

本提案寻求一种用于分离和定量脂类的分析仪器的支持。该仪器在商业上被称为Iatroscan，它结合了两种原理：薄层色谱（TLC）和火焰电离检测（FID）。不到十年前，Iatroscan的出现，使得对浮游生物、松林和沉积物中的脂类进行灵敏、快速的定量分析成为可能。单只桡足类动物的脂类组成都可以被分析，这使得脂类可以作为种群生物学研究的工具。购买Iatroscan将允许完成一项研究并进行初步探索，为未来的研究奠定基础。首先，将评估海洋锋对桡足动物营养的影响。三种悬浮进食桡足类动物对Ensenada锋的营养反应存在种间差异的假设将被验证。Ensenada锋是加利福尼亚海流中一个持续存在的深水锋系统。我们感兴趣的物种是加利福尼亚桉树、太平洋Metridia pacifica和加利福尼亚太平洋Calanus pacificus。储存脂质（蜡酯、三酰基甘油）和肠道荧光将被用作“条件因素”，以评估这三个物种在与额叶区域相交的一系列线上的营养状况。其次，探讨垂直细分的桡足类种群可以通过脂质谱进行区分的可能性。后者涉及浮游动物种群生长的连续性/不连续性以及洄游浮游动物脂质垂直运输的问题。恩森达锋面对浮游动物营养的影响和垂直脂质变化研究将利用为此目的收集的现有浮游动物样本进行，这些样本在1988年的巡航期间被冷冻（ZBI和Fronts’88）。

This proposal seeks support for an analytical instrument designed to separate and quantify lipid classes. The instrument, known commercially as an Iatroscan, combines two principles: thin-layer chromatography (TLC) with flame ionization detection (FID). The advent of the Iatroscan, less than a decade ago, made possible sensitive, rapid quantitation of lipid classes from planktonic organisms, seston, and sediments. Lipid class composition from as little as a single copepod can be analyzed, now permitting lipids to be used as a tool in the study of population biology. Purchase of an Iatroscan will permit one study to be completed and a preliminary exploration conducted as a foundation for future research. First, the effects of an oceanic front on copepod nutrition will be evaluated. The hypothesis will be tested that interspecific differences exist in nutritional responses of 3 suspension-feeding copepods to the Ensenada front, a persistent, deep-water frontal system in the California Current. The species of interest are Eucalanus californicus, Metridia pacifica, and Calanus pacificus californicus. Storage lipids (wax esters, triacylglycerols) and gut fluorescence will be used as "condition factors," to assess the nutritional status of these 3 species on a series of lines that intersect the frontal region. Secondly, the possibility that vertically subdivided copepod populations can be differentiated by lipid profiles will be explored. The latter issue bears on the problem of the continuous/discontinuous character of zooplankton population growth as well as the vertical transport of lipids by migratory zooplankton. Both the effects of the Ensenda front on zooplankton nutrition and the vertical lipid variation study will be done with existing zooplankton samples that were collected for this purpose and frozen during cruises in 1988 (ZBI and Fronts '88).