Collaborative Research: Salpa Thompsoni in the Southern Ocean: Bioenergetics, Population Dynamics and Biogeochemical Impact

海鞘是水生食草动物，其生活史、摄食生物学和种群动态与磷虾、桡足类或其他甲壳类浮游动物截然不同。海鞘可以发生在非常密集的人口开花，覆盖大面积，并已被证明有重大影响，由于他们的放牧和生产快速下沉的粪便颗粒。虽然通常被认为是南大洋浮游动物群落的主要组成部分，在生物量和分布方面往往与磷虾相当，但相对而言，海鞘受到的关注较少。虽然广泛的取样记录了南大洋海鞘的季节性丰富，但关于决定种群增长的重要比率以及该物种在放牧和颗粒物垂直通量方面的作用的数据很少。这项拟议的研究将包括：测量呼吸和排泄率的孤立和聚合salps的所有大小;测量摄入率，包括实验，以确定的大小或浓度的颗粒，可以减少摄入;和孤独和聚合物的增长率的测定。除了各种率测量，这项研究将包括定量调查salp水平和垂直分布，以确定其生物量和空间分布，并允许其影响的区域评估。还将对每个地点的水柱的物理特性以及可供海鞘使用的颗粒食物的数量和质量进行测量。将利用卫星图像和海冰覆盖信息来检验关于导致高密度海脊藻的条件的假设。结果将被用来构建一个模型的海鞘种群动态，实验和建模结果将被解释的物理和营养条件的上下文中的海鞘暴露。这一综合方法将为了解南大洋樽海鞘水华的生长动态提供一个良好的基础。两名研究生将接受该项目的培训，两名本科生将获得巡航和研究经验。将创建一个网站的一部分，让学生成为研究的虚拟参与者，以加强学生的定量技能。这两个PI将参加教师-研究员讲习班，并将与区域水族馆合作，以支持公共教育。

Salps are planktonic grazers that have a life history, feeding biology and population dynamic strikingly different from krill, copepods or other crustacean zooplankton. Salps can occur in very dense population blooms that cover large areas and have been shown to have major impacts due to the their grazing and the production of fast-sinking fecal pellets. Although commonly acknowledged as a major component of the Southern Ocean zooplankton community, often comparable in biomass and distribution to krill, salps have received relatively little attention. Although extensive sampling has documented the seasonal abundance of salps in the Southern Ocean, there is a paucity of data on important rates that determine population growth and the role of this species in grazing and vertical flux of particulates. This proposed study will include: measurements of respiration and excretion rates for solitary and aggregate salps of all sizes; measurements of ingestion rates, including experiments to determine the size or concentration of particulates that can reduce ingestion; and determination of growth rates of solitaries and aggregates. In addition to the various rate measurements, this study will include quantitative surveys of salp horizontal and vertical distribution to determine their biomass and spatial distribution, and to allow a regional assessment of their effects. Measurements of the physical characteristics of the water column and the quantity and quality of particulate food available for the salps at each location will also be made. Satellite imagery and information on sea-ice cover will be used to test hypotheses about conditions that result in high densities of salps. Results will be used to construct a model of salp population dynamics, and both experimental and modeling results will be interpreted within the context of the physical and nutritional conditions to which the salps are exposed. This integrated approach will provide a good basis for understanding the growth dynamics of salp blooms in the Southern Ocean. Two graduate students will be trained on this project, and cruise and research experience will be provided for two undergraduate students. A portion of a website allowing students to be a virtual participant in the research will be created to strengthen students' quantitative skills. Both PI's will participate in teacher-researcher workshops, and collaboration with a regional aquarium will be developed in support of public education.