Locomotory Patterns of Microzooplankton: Effects of Prey Behavior on Food Selectivity by Larval Fish

微型浮游动物是一种形态和生态多样化的生物，它们表现出广泛的游泳行为。这些行为的进化可能主要是为了使生物体能够有效地进食或允许非摄食形式留在水柱中，但它们也影响了鱼类幼虫识别潜在猎物的能力，特别是在非食物悬浮颗粒丰富的河口。与视觉捕食浮游小动物相比，很少有研究测试浮游小动物被视觉捕食者捕食的选择性，也没有明确的研究来理解这种选择是如何控制的。本项目将研究浮游微动物捕食行为在视觉捕食者（红鼓鱼幼鱼卵黄囊后期的早期）的摄食选择性中的作用。为了评估猎物行为在红鼓鱼幼虫食物选择中的作用，将使用CellTrak视频计算机系统进行运动分析，从三个维度量化猎物在捕食、攻击和捕获阶段的行为。在研究结果的基础上，对浮游微动物的捕食选择性进行预测和测试，并通过视觉喂养幼鱼。

Microzooplankton are a morphologically and ecologically diverse group of organisms that exhibit a wide range of swimming behaviors. These behaviors may have evolved primarily to allow the organism to feed efficiently or to allow non-feeding forms to stay in the water column, but they also affect the ability of fish larvae to recognize potential prey, especially in estuaries where non-food, suspended particles are abundant. In contrast to visual predation on microzooplankton, little research has been done to test for selectivity of microzooplankton prey species by visual predators, and no definitive research has been done to understand how such selection is controlled. This project will investigate the role of microzooplankton prey behavior in feeding selectivity by a visual predator (the early, post yolk-sac stage of the red drum larva, Sciaenops ocellatus). To evaluate the role of prey behavior in food selectivity by red drum larvae, a CellTrak video-computer system for motion analysis will be used to quantify prey behaviors in three dimensions during the encounter, attack and capture stages of predation. Based on the research results, predictions will be made and tested regarding microzooplankton prey selectivity by visually feeding larval fish.