ABR: Studies on the Ecological Physiology of Midwater Animals

9415543奇尔德里斯这项研究是针对测试的假设，海洋碳的微浮游生物和浮游动物的矿化是海洋碳预算的一个重要组成部分。这将通过将代谢模式的数据应用于在4100米水柱中收集的加州海流中层动物生物量数据集，并使用代谢数据来估计由于该群落及其主要组成部分的呼吸碳通量。研究工作将侧重于改进凝胶状动物的生物量估计，改进中层水氧最低层中发现的低氧分压下的代谢率估计，以及收集更稀有和更脆弱物种的数据。这项研究的意义与了解巨大的全球中层水生态系统的重要性有关。一种与地表群落广泛相互作用的生态系统，但我们对其了解相对较少。中层水动物（包括微浮游生物和浮游动物）是垂直迁移、捕食垂直迁移生物、以沉积物为食以及在深层产生生物量和粪便等原因造成的物质通过水柱流动的主要因素。该动物群对有机化合物的深度呼吸氧化可能是中层水碳通量的重要组成部分。为了了解这种生物组合在海洋经济和全球碳循环中的重要性，必须获得关于这种动物群进行的生物过程速率的信息。

9415543 Childress This research is directed at testing the hypothesis that the remineralization of oceanic carbon by micronekton and zooplankton is a significant fraction of the oceanic carbon budget. This will be carried out by applying the data on metabolic patterns to a midwater animals biomass dataset which has been collected in the California Current in a 4100 m water column and using the metabolic data to estimate respiratory carbon flux due to this community and its major components. The research effort will focus on improved biomass estimates for gelatinous animals, improved estimations of metabolic rates at the low oxygen partial pressures found in midwater oxygen minimum layers, and collection of data from rarer and more fragile species. The significance of this research is tied to the importance of understanding the immense, global midwater ecosystem. An ecosystem which interacts extensively with the surface communities, but about which we know relatively little. The midwater fauna (including both micronekton and zooplankton) is a major factor in the flux of material through the water column as a result of vertical migration, predation on vertical migrnats, feeding on sedimenting materials and production of biomass and feces at depth. The respiratory oxidation of organic compounds at depth by this fauna is potentially a significant component of the carbon flux in midwater. To understand the importance of this assemblage of organisms in the economy of the ocean and in global carbon cycles, it is essential to obtain information on the rates of biological processes carried out by this fauna.