Rapid Underway Measurement of Zooplankton Micro-Patchiness, Taxonomic Composition, and Size Structure

海洋浮游动物生态学中的两个基本问题是：1)对生物的微观分布缺乏了解；2)缺乏收集天气学或准天气学分类数据的能力。Davis博士和他的合作者建议利用现有的技术组装一个浮游生物录像机(VPR)，该录像机将测量浮游动物的分布，并以1-10节的拖曳速度和5-30微米的沿航迹空间分辨率准实时地将它们识别为主要的类群(桡足类、毛鞘等)。然后，他们将使用VPR在从伍兹霍尔到马尾藻海的一条横断线上，在各种水文条件下对浮游动物的微观中尺度分布进行采样。这些数据将深入了解不同水文和风条件下微尺度斑块的流行情况，并将揭示从微米到公里的连续尺度上分类群内部和分类群之间的空间关系。

Two fundamental problems in marine zooplankton ecology are 1) poor understanding of the micro-scale distribution of organisms and 2) lack of ability to collect synoptic or even quasi-synoptic taxonomic data. Dr. Davis and collaborators propose to assemble a Video Plankton Recorder (VPR), from available technology, which will measure the distribution of zooplankton and identify them to major taxa (copepods, chaetognaths, etc) in quasi-real-time at towing speeds of 1-10 knots with along-track spatial resolution of 5-30 um. They will then use the VPR to sample micro-meso-scale distributions of zooplankton in a wide variety of hydrographic regimes along a transect line from Woods Hole to the Sargasso Sea. These data will provide insights into the prevalence of micro-scale patchiness under various hydrographic and wind conditions and will reveal the spatial relationships within and among taxa along a continuum of scales from microns to kilometers.