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

海洋浮游动物生态学的两个基本问题是： 了解微生物的微观分布; 2） 缺乏收集天气甚至准天气资料能力 分类学资料 戴维斯博士和合作者建议组装一个 视频浮游生物记录仪（VPR），从现有的技术， 将测量浮游动物的分布， 主要类群（桡足类，毛颚类等）在准实时. 拖曳速度为1-10节，沿航迹空间分辨率为 5-30嗯. 然后，他们将使用VPR对微-中尺度进行采样 浮游动物分布在各种水文 从伍兹霍尔到马尾藻海的一条横断面线上沿着分布。 这些数据将提供深入了解微观尺度的流行 在各种水文和风力条件下， 揭示了沿着a 从微米到千米的连续尺度。

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.