Collaborative Research: RIDGE: Dispersal Potential of Hydrothermal Vent Animals: Larval Energetics, Depth Regulation and Field Distribution

Mullineaux 9619605 深海热液喷口的动态生境在时间上是短暂的，往往与最近的可比生境相隔数百至数千公里。 然而，依赖于活跃喷口的生理上独特的生物不仅保持稳定的种群，而且在它们出现后的几个月内就在新的喷口地点定居。这一矛盾现象提出了两个关于热液喷口动物生物学的主要未解问题：1）热液喷口动物的幼虫是否在遥远的喷口地点之间传播？（2）如果是，他们是如何做到的？这些问题对于理解喷口种群和群落如何在生态时间内持续存在以及喷口物种如何在进化时间内持续存在至关重要。目前，我们几乎不知道喷口物种的幼虫在浮游生物中生活多久，它们扩散多远，或者什么生物和物理参数影响它们的扩散能力。 这三名首席调查员将联合收割机结合其在冷水幼虫生理学（马纳汉）、深海幼虫生态学（扬）和热液喷口附近幼虫扩散模型（穆利诺）方面的专门知识，调查影响喷口幼虫扩散的生物和物理因素。 这项跨学科研究将：1）开发在原地压力和温度下饲养喷口幼虫的方法和高压设备; 2）测量幼虫发育期间的代谢需求和能量含量变化，以估计幼虫寿命; 3）说明垂直游泳和浮力在确定幼虫如何在野外垂直定位方面的作用; 4）确定幼虫发育过程中对压力和温度的生理耐受力是否发生变化; 5）确定喷口上方水柱中幼虫的分布和丰度;和6）纳入幼虫属性（分布，垂直运动，生理耐受性，代谢需求和能量储存）到由合作的物理海洋学家开发的流体动力学模型中以研究保留时间，传播幼虫的轨迹和流量。 这些研究将是对独特热液喷口动物的幼虫生物学的首次全面调查，将在东太平洋海隆北纬9度附近进行。这些信息将大大增加我们对深海环境中幼体的了解，同时提供数据集，用于与极地和温带海洋区域的幼体生物学进行比较。

Mullineaux 9619605 The dynamic habitats at deep-sea hydrothermal vents are temporally ephemeral and often separated from the nearest comparable habitats by hundreds-to-thousands of kilometers. Nevertheless, the physiologically unique organisms that depend on active vents not only maintain stable populations, but also colonize new vent sites within months after they appear. This paradox raises two major unanswered questions about the biology of vent animals: 1) Do larvae of vent animals disperse between distant vent sites? and 2) If so, how do they do it? These questions are central to understanding how vent populations and communities persist over ecological time and how vent species persist over evolutionary time. Presently, we know virtually nothing about how long larvae of vent species live in the plankton, how far they disperse, or what biological and physical parameters influence their dispersal ability. The three Principal Investigators will combine their expertise in cold-water larval physiology (Manahan), deep-sea larval ecology (Young) and larval dispersal models near hydrothermal vents (Mullineaux) to investigate the biological and physical factors that influence dispersal of vent larvae. This interdisciplinary study will: 1) develop methods and high-pressure equipment for rearing vent larvae at in situ pressures and temperatures; 2) measure the metabolic requirements and changes in energy content during larval development in order to estimate larval lifespans; 3) characterize the roles of vertical swimming and buoyancy in determining how larvae position themselves vertically in the field; 4) determine if the physiological tolerances for pressure and temperature change during larval development; 5) determine the distribution and abundance of larvae in the water column above vent sites; and 6) incorporate larval attributes (distributions, vertical motions, physiological tolerances, metabolic requirements and ene rgy stores) into hydrodynamic models developed by collaborating physical oceanographers to investigate the retention times, trajectories and fluxes of dispersing larvae. The studies will be the first comprehensive investigations of the larval biology of the unique hydrothermal vent fauna and will be conducted near 9N on the East Pacific Rise. This information will significantly increase our understanding of larvae in deep-sea environments, while providing data sets for comparison to larval biology in polar and temperate oceanic regions.