Juvenile fish predation on meiobenthos - Moreton Bay, Australia

9314555本研究项目的重点将是确定小型底栖动物是否像在类似温带地区的食物网中那样完全融入亚热带河口碎屑食物网。这项研究项目将与澳大利亚同事合作开展，他们对位于澳大利亚中东部海岸的莫里顿湾以红树林为主的Pumicstone Passage海底/游泳动物的物种组成和丰度有着长期的数据记录。该项目将首先确定哪些种类的幼鱼利用小型动物作为数量丰富的食物项目。随后，将确定鱼类栖息地的小型底栖动物物种组成。这一数据对于确定内脏中的猎物动物是否在鱼生活的地方被吃掉，以及内脏内容物是否与可获得的常驻猎物一致是至关重要的。在这两个描述性研究阶段完成后，计划进行实验，以测试一种主要的幼鱼捕食者对小型底栖动物的去除率，以及底食性幼鱼是否选择了某些小型动物。这些实验将在循环水系统中的微型宇宙中进行，并将遵循之前在南卡罗来纳州PI实验室进行的类似实验中使用的方案。***

9314555 COULL This research project will center on determining if meiofauna are as fully integrated into sub-tropical estuarine detritus-based food webs as they are in similar temperate region food webs. This research project will be carried out in cooperation with Australian colleagues who have a long-term data record on the species composition and abundance of demersal/natant fauna in the mangrove dominated Pumicestone Passage, Moreton Bay, which is located on the central east coast of Australia. The project will first determine what species of juvenile fish utilize meiofauna as a numerically abundant diet item. Subsequently, the meiofaunal species composition in the habitats where the fish live will be determined. This data is essential to determine if the prey fauna in the guts have been eaten where the fish live and, if gut contents are consistent with the resident prey available. After these two descriptive phases of the research are completed experiments are planned to test meiofaunal removal rates by a dominant juvenile fish predator and whether certain meiofauna are being selected by bottom-feeding juvenile fish. These experiments will be conducted in microcosms in a recirculating sea-water system and will follow the protocol used in similar experiments performed previously in the PI's laboratory in South Carolina. ***