Community Development and Structure at Hydrothermal Vents: Life After Recruitment

热液喷口群落生态的研究才刚刚开始，主要是通过对组成喷口生物区系适应的生理生态的考察和对物种占据格局的描述性分析。1994年12月，这些科学家在东太平洋海隆9：50‘N启动了一个项目，以真正利用深海潜水器Alvin的力量在这个深海环境中进行实验干预，测试假说以解释观察到的群落在空间(地带化)和时间(演替)上的模式。在超过13个月的3次航行中，352个玄武岩沉降块分别部署在4个区域(管虫、双壳类、悬浮喂食器和外围)的3个通风口，以实验测试幼虫供应、生理适应和物种相互作用对补充模式的影响。这一续期裁决涉及移植和回收仍留在海底的123个区块，在这些区块上将发生足够的殖民和生长，从而能够测试生物相互作用如何在早期殖民阶段之后改变分区和演替模式的发展。重点将具体放在(I)管虫(Riftia vs.Tevnia和Oasisia；贻贝vs.Riftia)之间争夺空间的作用，(2)成年贻贝对幼虫定植的抑制，(3)螃蟹和鱼类的捕食在相互竞争的行会之间的相互作用(食性腹足类和固着的空间占有者)，以及(4)历史上的动物群在抑制群落变化方面的作用，如排泄通量的兴衰。分析不同的生物相互作用如何影响沿环境压力梯度的群落发展，具有基本的生态学意义，因为喷口的生理压力和环境生产力的空间梯度与岩石潮间带和几乎所有其他群落的空间梯度是相反的，这源于我们目前对生物相互作用如何随环境应力梯度变化的理解。该项目还将讨论幼虫定居是否会因先前存在的生物群的物种组成和盖度而改变，这是岭幼虫(脊风口幼虫)项目目标所特有的主题，也是岭的时间变异性部分的基础。

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.