Community Development and Structure at Hydrothermal Vents: Life After Recruitment

对热液喷口的群落生态学的研究刚刚开始，方法是检查喷口生物群各组成部分的适应生理生态学，并对物种占据模式进行描述性分析。1994年12月，这些科学家在东太平洋海隆北纬9度50分发起了一个项目，以真正利用ALVIN号深潜器的动力，在这一深海环境中进行实验性干预，检验各种假设，以解释观察到的群落在空间（地带性）和时间（演替）方面的发展模式。在3个巡航超过13个月，352玄武岩定居块部署在4个区（管虫，双壳类，悬浮饲料，和养殖场）在3个喷口实验测试招聘模式是如何影响幼虫供应，生理适应，和物种的相互作用。 这一更新合同涉及移植和恢复仍留在海底的123个区块，在这些区块上将发生足够的殖民和生长，以便能够测试生物相互作用如何在早期殖民阶段之后改变地带性和演替模式的发展。 重点将特别放在（一）管虫之间的空间竞争的作用（里夫蒂亚诉特夫尼亚和奥阿西西亚;和贻贝对Riftia），（2）成年贻贝对幼虫定殖的抑制，（3）蟹类和鱼类的捕食在介导竞争性公会之间的相互作用（放牧腹足类与固着空间占领者），和（4）历史动物占领抑制群落变化作为通风通量的蜡或减弱。分析不同的生物相互作用如何影响群落的发展，沿着环境应力梯度与距离发泄源具有根本的生态意义，因为空间梯度的生理压力和环境生产力的喷口是混淆在相反的方式从岩石潮间带和几乎所有其他社区，从我们目前的理解，生物相互作用如何随着环境应力的变化梯度。该项目还将探讨幼虫定居是否因物种组成和先前存在的生物群覆盖而改变，这是一个特定于海脊幼虫项目目标的主题，也是海脊时间可变性组成部分的根本。

The community ecology of hydrothermal vents has only begun to be investigated by examinations of the physiological ecology of adaptations in component vent biota and descriptive analyses of species occupation patterns. In Dec 1994, these scientists initiated a project at 9Ý50' N on the East Pacific Rise to take true advantage of the power of the deep submersible ALVIN to conduct experimental interventions in this deep sea environment, testing hypotheses to explain observed patterns of community development in space (zonation) and time (succession). During 3 cruises over 13 mo, 352 basalt settlement blocks were deployed in each of 4 zones (Tubeworm, Bivalve, Suspension feeder, and Periphery) at 3 vents to test experimentally how recruitment patterns are influenced by larval supply, physiological adaptations, and species interactions. This renewal award involves transplantation and recovery of the 123 blocks still remaining on the seafloor, on which sufficient colonization and growth will have occurred to enable the test of how biological interactions modify development of zonation and succession patterns after the early colonization phase. The focus will be specifically on the role of ( I ) competition for space among tubeworms (Riftia vs. Tevnia and Oasisia; and mussels vs. Riftia), (2) suppression of larval colonization by adult mussels, (3) predation by crabs and fishes in mediating interactions between competing guilds (grazing gastropods vs. sessile space occupiers), and (4) historical faunal occupation in repressing community change as venting fluxes wax or wane. Analysis of how different biological interactions influence community development along the environmental stress gradient with distance from venting source has fundamental ecological significance because the spatial gradients in physiological stress and environmental productivity in vents are confounded in the opposite way from the rocky intertidal and virtually all other communities from which comes our present understanding of how biological interactions vary along environmental stress gradients. The project will also address whether larval settlement is altered by the species composition and cover of pre existing biota, a theme specific to objectives of the RIDGE LARVE (Larvae At Ridge VEnts) Project and fundamental to the Temporal Variability component of RIDGE.