Light Regulation of Carbon Partitioning and Growth of Eelgrass

海草沿着分布在所有的边缘， 极地海洋形成了一些最高产的植物的基础 世界上的社区。 它们在生态系统中扮演着重要的角色， 养分循环，沉积物沉积和结合， 为大型和多样化的动物栖息地，并作出重大贡献 到近岸食物网 发现了一种名为大叶藻的鳗草 典型地在近岸沃茨的单型林中，其特征在于， 光的限制和缺氧，有机物丰富的存在， 沉积物 鳗草栖息地的性质决定了 并且常常在地下组织上延长缺氧/缺氧， 严格限制碳排放。 鳗草能够 承受和恢复这些条件必须成为其 生态成功。 正在进行的研究已经开始审查 生理和生化机制负责 在这些栖息地的成功。 该研究项目将 以先前的研究为基础，推进当前的理解， 一个简单的计算整个工厂的碳预算， 生物化学和分子特征决定了整合植物 对海底光环境和缺氧沉积物的响应。 这项研究将解决的基本机制， 潜艇的灯光系统控制着潜艇的生存深度、生长和 的生产力，并阐明了主要的 生理生化和分子生物学特征 以确保其在沿岸的环境中的生态成功。 在 特别是，本项目将研究碳的控制 大叶藻根和芽的分配， 启动分子检测以确定 翻译和转录事件在调节 根对昼夜和长时间缺氧的反应。 这个项目 应该提供必要的机械理解的主要 控制分布和碳分配的因素 策略，所以这种复杂程度可以 纳入增长预测数字模型， 这个物种的生产力。 从这些获得的知识 这些研究不仅会增进我们对 控制海洋底栖生物的生产力， 了解植物的适应机制， 但提供健全和知情管理所必需的信息 水生植物的数量

Seagrasses are distributed along the margins of all but the most polar seas and form the basis of some of the most productive plant communities in the world. They play important ecological roles in nutrient cycling, sediment deposition and binding, provision of habitat for a large and diverse fauna, and contribute significantly to nearshore food webs. Eelgrass, Zostera marina, is found typically in monotypic stands in nearshore waters characterized by light limitation and the presence of anoxic, organic-rich sediments. The very nature of eelgrass habitats imposes diurnal and often prolonged hypoxia/anoxia on subterranean tissues and severe restrictions on carbon gain. The ability of eelgrass to withstand and recover from these conditions must underlie its ecological success. Ongoing studies have begun to examine the physiological and biochemical mechanisms responsible for the success of eelgrass in these habitats. This research project will build on prior research and advance current understanding, beyond a simple accounting of whole plant carbon budgets, to the biochemical and molecular features that dictate integrated plant responses to submarine light environments and anoxic sediments. This research will address the fundamental mechanisms by which submarine light regimes control the survival depth, growth and productivity of Zostera marina, and elucidate the primary physiological, biochemical and molecular features of this species that ensure its ecological success in littoral environments. In particular, this project will investigate the controls on carbon partitioning between shoots and roots in Zostera marina, and initiate molecular examinations to determine the relative importance of translational and transcription events in regulating root responses to diurnal and prolonged anoxia. This project should provide the needed mechanistic understanding of the major factors that control the distribution and carbon allocation strategies of eelgrass, so that this level of sophistication can be incorporated into a predictive numerical model of growth and productivity for this species. The knowledge gained form these studies will not only advance our understanding of factors that control marine benthic productivity and contribute to our basic understanding of the adaptive mechanisms that function in plants, but provide information essential to sound and informed management of submerged macrophytes.