Limits on Size and Form of Benthic Clutches

这项拟议的研究是一项正在进行的关于限制海洋生物生活史因素的研究计划的一部分。在底栖海洋动物中，可选择的繁殖模式是浮游分散胚胎与受保护的海底胚胎。因此，底栖胚胎发育的存在或不存在通常会对动物的扩散、招募和交配产生影响，进而影响底栖动物种群中动物的分布、丰度和遗传学。底栖卵群和孵化群在形式上有很大的不同；变异模式可能传达有关环境要求的重要信息，但这种变异的原因和后果尚未确定。孵化和其他形式的底栖生物发育保护可能受到胚胎对从周围水中转移氧气或将可扩散物质从胚胎中移至水中的要求的限制。这项研究将检验：(1)发育对氧气供应的依赖；(2)通过扩散或间隙流动进行交换的模型。将通过使用几个主要底栖海洋动物群体的代表的比较和实验方法来审查限制底栖生物卵块发育的迹象和这些限制的后果。

The proposed study is part of an ongoing research program on factors that restrict life histories of marine organisms. Among benthic marine animals, alternative modes of reproduction are planktonic dispersed embryos versus protected benthic embryos. Therefore, the presence or absence of benthic embryonic development commonly has consequences for dispersal, recruitment, and mating, with further consequences for the distribution, abundance, and genetics of animals in benthic populations. Benthic egg masses and brood masses vary greatly in form; patterns of variation may convey important information about environmental requirements, but the causes and consequences of this variation are not yet established. Brooding and other forms of protection for benthic development may be limited by embryonic requirements for transfer of oxygen from the surrounding water or the removal from the embryo of diffusible substances to the water. This research will test: (1) dependence of development on supply of oxygen and (2) models of exchange by diffusion or by interstitial flow. Indications of restrictions on development in benthic egg masses and the consequences of these constraints will be examined by comparative and experimental approaches that use representatives of several major groups of benthic marine animals.