Dissertation Research: Fitness Trade-Offs for Short-Term Diapause in Synchaeta pectinata

本研究的目的是研究湖泊浮游动物群落中常见的轮虫Synchaeta pectinata的休眠机制和不同休眠策略的相关成本。对于像轮虫这样不能从环境中迁移的生物来说，休眠通常是用来度过不适宜生存的时期的。进入休眠的线索（例如，温度，食物水平等）往往是不可靠的，导致生物体过早或过晚进入休眠的巨大适应性成本。水湍流、温度、氧、pH、养分有效性等基本属性在淡水湖环境中容易发生剧烈的气候变化。pectinata产生短期休眠卵，以应对食物限制。这种策略被认为是通过短期的饥饿条件来促进生存。无性系之间的休眠卵产量差异很大，这表明应对不可预测的条件有多种策略。由该奖项资助的研究将把实验室和实地实验与计算机模拟相结合，以比较不同环境条件下替代休眠策略的成功。这项研究将有助于我们理解休眠能力如何使种群在可变或暂时危险的环境中持续存在。由于浮游动物是淡水湖生态系统的关键组成部分，了解促进其持续存在的机制应加强土地利用规划者和管理机构对流域健康和完整性进行管理的努力。

9623678 Gilbert The goal of this research is to examine dormancy mechanisms and costs associated with different dormancy strategies in the rotifer Synchaeta pectinata, a common member of lake zooplankton communities. For organisms that, like rotifers, are incapable of migrating from their environment, dormancy is commonly employed to allow persistence through inhospitable periods. Cues for entering dormancy (e.g., temperature, food levels, etc.) may often be unreliable, resulting in substantial fitness costs for organisms that either enter dormancy too soon or too late. The freshwater lake environments of S. pectinata are prone to drastic weather-induced changes in basic attributes including water turbulence, temperature, oxygen , pH, nutrient availability. S. pectinata produces short-term dormant eggs in response to food limitation. This strategy is hypothesized to promote survival through short periods of starvation conditions. Dormant egg production varies widely between clonal lines, suggesting multiple strategies for dealing with unpredictable conditions. Research funded by this award will integrate laboratory and field experiments with computer simulations to compare the success of alternate dormancy strategies under different environmental conditions. This research will contribute to our understanding of how the capacity for dormancy can allow populations to persist in variable or temporally risky environments. As zooplankton are a key component of freshwater lake ecosystems, understanding the mechanisms that promote their persistance should enhance the efforts of land use planners and management agencies to manage for watershed health and integrity.