Reproduction, Dispersal, and Recruitment of Hydrothermal Vent Crabs: A Tractable System

热液喷口蟹的繁殖、传播和补充：一个易于处理的系统

• 批准号: 9618007
• 负责人: Stephen Cary
• 金额: $ 16.99万
• 依托单位: University of Delaware
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1997
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1997-02-15 至 2002-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9618007&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Reproduction; Dispersal; Recruitment; Hydrothermal; Vent

Cary 9618007 Almost 20 years ago researchers discovered unique communities of organisms inhabiting deep-sea hydrothermal vents located along the Eastern Pacific mid-ocean spreading centers. The question of how these species disperse and maintain their populations in these patchy, ephemeral habitats has remained one of the most interesting and unanswered problems in vent ecology. This study will be part of the Larvae-at-Ridge-Vents Project (LARVE), which is a component of the ongoing Ridge Inter-Disciplinary Global Experiments (RIDGE) program. Central to the success of LARVE is understanding the way in which hydrothermal-vent species maintain populations. Results of earlier work suggest that vent species produce pelagic larvae that are responsible for colonization of new vent sites and for maintaining populations at established sites. However, available evidence is almost entirely circumstantial. The patchiness of vent fields (in time and space) compounds the problem and demands innovative solutions that use the most tractable species as models for dispersal and recruitment. The focus of the research will be the vent crab, Bythograea thermydron. This crab shares the life-history characteristics that have made decapod crustaceans the taxon-ofchoice for a great many shallow-water studies of dispersal and recruitment. The central hypothesis of the study maintains that Bythograea thermydron disperses among vent sites via demersal larvae that take advantage of both subtidal bottom currents and the well developed swimming ability of the larvae. Understanding the life histories and the biological and physical constraints on dispersal of crabs from vents sites is critical to establishing credible models of how these communities are established and maintained along mid-ocean ridges.

卡里 9618007 大约20年前，研究人员发现了独特的生物群落，它们栖息在沿着东太平洋中部海洋扩张中心的深海热液喷口。这些物种如何在这些零散、短暂的生境中分散和维持其种群的问题，一直是喷口生态学中最有趣和未解的问题之一。这项研究将是Larvae-at-Ridge-Vents项目（LARVE）的一部分，该项目是正在进行的岭跨学科全球实验（RIDGE）计划的一个组成部分。 LARVE成功的关键是了解热液喷口物种维持种群的方式。早期工作的结果表明，喷口物种产生浮游幼虫，负责在新喷口地点定居，并维持已建立地点的种群。然而，现有证据几乎完全是间接证据。喷口区（在时间和空间上）的不连续性使问题更加复杂，需要采用创新的解决办法，使用最易处理的物种作为扩散和补充的模式。 研究的重点将是喷口蟹，Bythograea thermydron。这种蟹的生活史特征使十足类甲壳动物成为许多浅水扩散和补充研究的首选分类。 这项研究的核心假设认为，Bythograea thermydron通过底栖幼虫散布在喷口地点，底栖幼虫利用潮下底流和幼虫发达的游泳能力。 了解螃蟹的生活史以及从喷口扩散的生物和物理限制，对于建立可信的模型，说明这些群落如何沿沿着洋中脊建立和维持至关重要。