Size Structured Models for Copepods: Applications to Optimal Body Size

海洋浮游动物的成体大小随季节而变化， 纬度 较大的体型与较冷的季节有关 高纬度地区。 由于温暖的环境和季节也 倾向于处理较少的猎物，食物和 温度对个体大小有重要影响。 因为 体型影响着个体生态的方方面面， 对身体大小的解释必须考虑到它是一种可能的生命 历史适应不断变化的环境的方式， 还没有很好地理解。 该项目将开始开发一套尺寸分类 种群模型，并使用它们来预测最佳体型 模式的基础上最大化的个人健身。 的 模型将纳入特定规模的增长，死亡率， 产卵率及其对温度的反应 还有食物 模型将根据 文学作品 由此产生的模型将在 季节性变化的温度和食物信号， 看看最佳生活史反应如何影响人口 动力学

Adult body size in marine zooplankton varies with season and latitude. Larger body sizes are associated with colder seasons and higher latitudes. Since warmer environments and seasons also tend to process less prey, the interaction of food and temperature may have important influences on body size. Because body size affects all aspects of an individual's ecology, explanations of body size must consider it a possible life history adaptation to a changing environments in ways that are not yet well understood. This project will begin the development of a set of size-classified population models, and use them to predict optimal body size patterns on the basis of maximization of individual fitness. The models will incorporate size-specific growth, mortality, and fecundity rates and the responses of those rates to temperature and food. Models will be parameterized based on information in the literature. The resulting models will be simulated in the context of seasonally varying temperature and food signals, to see how the optimal life history responses affect population dynamics.