ABR: Food Limitation of Deposit Feeding Populations - Field Experiments

这项研究的目的是评估在多大程度上， 野外环境中的存款喂养种群受到以下因素的限制： 在营养质量变化的背景下， 空间和时间尺度上的沉积物。 过去的研究 表明新沉积的海藻碎屑 大大促进了存款饲养者的数量增长， 但沉积物中的颗粒有机物也是 非常重要。 过去两年的季节性研究 表明沉积物促进了人口增长的下降 从春天到秋天，当一个 存款馈线摄取春季与秋季沉积物。 这些发现 将扩大到实验研究， 碎屑在现场，因为一个诊断标记的横向 可以运输碎石。 实验添加 研究将与标记方法相结合， 笼中控制捕食，检查碎屑的影响， 沉积物中有机质的季节变化 优势寡毛纲寄生虫Paranais的种群增长 litoralis，和泥螺的行为，Ilyanassa obsoleta和Hydrobia truncata。 喂养之间的相互作用 此外，亦会研究沉积物的沉积和流动情况。 这 这项研究将是第一个利用空间和 表层摄食碎屑限制时间研究 底栖野外种群

The objective of this research is to assess the degree to which deposit feeding populations in field circumstances are limited by food, in the context of changes in nutritional quality of the sediment over spatial and temporal scales. Past research has demonstrated that newly deposited seaweed based detritus contributes substantially to population growth of deposit feeders, but that the particulate organic matter in the sediment also is of great importance. Seasonal studies over the last two years demonstrate that the sediment promotes declining population growth from spring to fall and carbon retention also declines when a deposit feeder ingests spring versus fall sediment. These findings will be extended to experimental studies on the addition of detritus in the field, since a diagnostic marker of lateral transport of detritus is available. The experimental addition studies will be combined with the marker approach as well as with caged controls for predation, to examine the impact of detrital addition and seasonal organic matter change in the sediment on the population growth of the dominant oligochaete worm, Paranais litoralis, and on the behavior of the mud snails, Ilyanassa obsoleta and Hydrobia truncata. Interactions between feeding behavior, sediment deposition and flow will also be examined. This study will be the first to utilize the combined spatial and temporal approach to examine detrital limitation of surface feeding benthic field populations.