Colony Integration in the Clonal Marine Benthos

菌落整合是用来定义 分株之间的功能相互依赖（例如，虫体、息肉） 在一个殖民地。 在许多不同系统中的工作揭示了 分类群内和分类群之间的重复的群体整合模式 并发现了整合模式之间的重复相关性 克隆生物生活史特征的模式。 尽管 这种相关方法的成功，几乎所有的工作， 菌落整合基于形态学推断， 很少尝试直接观察，测量，或 实验性地干扰殖民地的血管系统 无脊椎动物 这项工作将启动一项研究计划 旨在将殖民地整合的研究放在一家公司， 在详细解剖分析的基础上， 以及无性系无脊椎动物的脉管系统的行为。

Colony integration is the term used to define the degres of functional interdependence between ramets (e.g., zooids, polyps) within a colony. Work in many different systems has revealed repeated patterns of colony integration within and between taxa and found repeated correlations between patterns of integration and patterns of clonal organism life history traits. Despite the success of this correlative approach, virtually all work on colony integration has been based on morphological inference, with little attempt to directly observe, measure, or experimentally perturb the vascular systems of colonial invertebrates. This work will initiate a research program designed to place studies of colony integration on a firm functional foundation based on detailed analysis of the anatomy and behavior of the vascular system of a clonal invertebrate.