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

穆利诺9619605深海热液喷口的动态栖息地在时间上是短暂的，通常与最近的可比栖息地相隔数百至数千公里。然而，依赖活跃喷口的生理独特的生物不仅保持稳定的种群，而且在新的喷口出现后的几个月内定居。这一悖论提出了关于喷口动物生物学的两大悬而未决的问题：1)喷口动物的幼虫是否分散在遥远的喷口地点？2)如果是，他们是如何做到这一点的？这些问题对于理解喷口种群和群落如何随着生态时间的推移而持续存在，以及喷口物种如何随着进化时间的推移而持续存在至关重要。目前，我们几乎不知道喷口物种的幼虫在浮游生物中生活的时间有多长，它们分散的距离有多远，或者是什么生物和物理参数影响它们的扩散能力。三位首席调查员将结合他们在冷水幼虫生理学(Manahan)、深海幼虫生态学(Young)和热液喷口附近幼虫扩散模型(Mullineaux)方面的专业知识，研究影响喷口幼虫扩散的生物和物理因素。这项跨学科的研究将：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)测量幼虫发育过程中的代谢需要和能量含量的变化，以估计幼虫的寿命；3)表征垂直游泳和浮力在决定幼虫在野外垂直定位中的作用；4)确定幼虫在喷口发育过程中对压力和温度变化的生理容忍度；5)确定幼虫在喷口地点上方的水柱中的分布和丰度；将幼虫属性(分布、垂直运动、生理耐受性、代谢需要和能量储存)纳入物理海洋学家合作建立的水动力学模型中，以研究散布幼虫的停留时间、轨迹和通量。这项研究将是首次对独特的热液喷口动物群的幼虫生物学进行全面调查，并将在东太平洋隆起北纬9度附近进行。这些信息将大大增加我们对深海环境中幼虫的了解，同时为与极地和温带海洋地区的幼虫生物学进行比较提供数据集。

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.