ABR: Continuing Studies of the Role of Hydrodynamical and Biological Processes During Settlement of Infaunal Invertebrates

这是一个基于成就的更新奖，旨在继续研究水动力和生物过程在非动物群无脊椎动物定居过程中的作用。这项研究的最终目标是确定观察到的成虫分布模式的空间尺度、水动力和生物条件，即通过幼虫定居来解释底物选择性的条件。这项研究解决了以下三个一般性问题。1)合格的幼虫在水柱中的位置，它们的沉降率随水流和泥沙特性的变化而变化？2)幼虫是否主动地在实验室米的空间尺度和田间100米到公里的S空间尺度上选择优先基质？3)泥沙选择是如何在水流中完成的--也就是说，是否有特定的幼虫行为允许利用物理机制来促进主动选择，以及是否存在不可能进行选择的物理条件？将在继续研究特定底栖无脊椎动物的沉积物选择能力作为成体生活史特征和栖息地亲和力的作用的同时，进行解决这些问题的实验。其目的是通过对各种“类型”物种(例如生活史特征、分类地位和成虫栖息地亲和力)的实验室和实地研究相结合，重复关于聚落在解释中尺度成虫分布方面的作用的概括。

This is an Accomplishment-Based Renewal award to continue research on the role of hydrodynamical and biological processes during settlement of infaunal invertebrates. The ultimate goal of the research is to determine the spatial scales and hydrodynamical and biological conditions for which substrate selectivity by settling larvae account for observed adult patterns of distribution. The research addresses the following three general questions. 1) Where are competent larvae located within the water column and what is their settlement rate as a function of flow and sediment characteristics? 2) Do larvae actively select preferred substrates over spatial scales of meters in the laboratory and of 100's of meters to kilometers in the field? 3) How is sediment selection accomplished in flow -- that is, are there specific larval behaviors that permit exploitation of the physical regime to facilitate active selection and are there physical conditions for which selection is impossible? Experiments to address these question will be conducted while continuing the study of sediment selection capabilities of particular infaunal invertebrates as a function of life history characteristics and habitat affinity of adults. The intent is to iterate on generalizations regarding the role of settlement in explaining mesoscale adult distributions through a combination of laboratory and field studies on a variety of "types" of species (e.g., in terms of life history characteristics, taxonomic position and adult habitat affinity.