Chemically Mediated Interactions in a Sedimentary Assemblage

化学环境与生物化学动力学之间的相互作用 物种对生态系统至关重要。 招聘， 捕食和生物干扰，例如， 由特定的生物化学物质介导， 深刻地影响着社区的动态。 该项目将 研究了生物溴化的存在与 芳香族化合物和三个营养级成员的动态 海相沉积组合 该项目利用生产 一种蠕虫对溴代芳烃的污染及其对 周围的栖息地作为一个模型系统，用于检查以下内容 问题：1.这些化合物的存在如何影响利率 捕食和干扰的影响吗和2.细菌对人类的 控制沉积物污染的程度？ 根据私家侦探 先前的研究表明，一些物种的招募是 在这些溴代芳烃的存在下被彻底还原。然而，在这方面， 缺乏关于这些化合物对 系统中的主要扰动力，泥沙咬入和 挖掘掠食者，以及维持水平的过程， 这些有毒的溴化酚在沉积物中。 使用各种 实验室和现场实验，该研究项目将 研究生物溴芳烃对这些的影响， 流程. 鉴于全球海洋沉积物丰富 产生溴化芳香化合物的类群的栖息地，这些化合物 可能是海洋沉积中的构造力， 社区.

The interplay between the chemical environment and the dynamics of species is of fundamental importance to ecosystems. Recruitment, predation, and biotic disturbance, for example, are commonly mediated by specific biogenic chemicals whose alteration can profoundly affect the dynamics of the community. This project will study the coupling between the presence of biogenic brominated aromatics and the dynamics of members of three trophic levels in a marine sedimentary assemblage. The project utilized the production of bromoaromatics by a worm and its contamination of the surrounding habitat as a model system for examining the following questions: 1. How does the presence of these compounds affect rates of predation and disturbance? and 2. How important are bacteria in controlling the level of sediment contamination? Based on the PI's prior research it is known that recruitment of some species is radically reduced in the presence of these bromoaromatics. However, there is a lack of information on the effects of these compounds on the major disturbance forces in the system, sediment-biting and digging predators, and on the processes that maintain the level of these toxic brominated phenols in the sediment. Using a variety of laboratory and field experiments, this research project will investigate the effects of the biogenic bromoaromatics on these processes. Given the global abundance in marine sedimentary habitats of taxa producing brominated aromatics, these compounds may be very important as structuring forces in marine sedimentary communities.