SGER: Biomixing - a controversial mechanism influencing dynamics of marine ecosystems?

研究人员将结合两种新的方法--发展中的技术--独立的水下测速仪器(SCUVA)和发展中的研究系统(海洋湖泊)--研究“生物融合”现象--生物运动导致水柱混合的过程。在小尺度上研究粒子速度和湍流的典型仪器--数字粒子图像测速仪(DPIV)--通常受到大尺寸、与表面的物理连接以及无法主动跟踪运动动物的限制。SCUVA是一种不那么笨重的、自主的、便携式的DPIV设备，能够实时量化单个动物周围的流场。使用SCUVA，有可能测量从0.002米到0.25m大小的水生动物-流体相互作用，从而将单个动物或成群的水母造成的湍流与整个水柱的中尺度涡旋混合结合在一起，这是利用成熟的声学多普勒水流剖面仪技术同步测量的。海洋湖泊是完全被陆地包围的海水水体。它们是易于进入的中小型生态系统，可以以适度的规模和预算进行全面研究。潮汐交换仅限于离散的海底隧道的湖泊还包含数十亿桡足类和数千万拳头到盘子大小的水母。因此，潮汐混合、生物混合(由微型和大型浮游动物)和风混合都可以被量化，而海洋湖泊可能提供更广泛、更复杂系统的更简单的缩影。研究人员将使用通用海洋湍流模型(GOTM)量化水母种群的物理和生物混合的相对影响。更广泛的影响：该项目将通过继续培训一名帕劳女研究助理进行海洋科学研究，并为两名女研究生的研究提供便利，从而促进海洋学多样性的增加。帕劳的资源管理者将使用GOTM进行模拟，以探索气候变化对“水母湖”生态系统的可能影响，气候变化直接由天气或水母种群动态间接调节，“水母湖”是帕劳重要的生物多样性和经济资源。GOTM模式将适用于探索不同的沿海情况，促进对海洋中生物组合潜力的彻底探索。

The investigators will study the phenomenon of "biomixing" - the process by which the movement of organisms cause the mixing of the water column - by bring together two novel approaches - a developing technology, Self-Contained Underwater Velocimetry Apparatus (SCUVA), and a developing study system (marine lakes). Typical instrumentation that study particle velocity and turbulence at small scales - digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) - are typically limited by large size, physical connections to the surface, and inability to actively track moving animals. SCUVA is a less cumbersome, autonomous, portable DPIV equipment able to quantify the flow field surrounding individual animals in real-time. Using SCUVA, it is possible to measure aquatic animal-fluid interactions from 0.002 m to 0.25 m size and thus to integrate turbulence created by individual animals or swarms of medusae with mesoscale eddy mixing of the entire water-column measured synchronously with established Acoustic Doppler Current meter Profiler technology. Marine lakes are bodies of seawater entirely surrounded by land. They are easily accessible, small-to-medium sized ecosystems that can be studied comprehensively on a modest scale and budget. Lakes with tidal exchange limited to discrete submarine tunnels also contain billions of copepods and tens of millions of fist-to-plate sized jellyfish. Thus tidal mixing, biomixing (by micro- and macro-zooplankton), and wind-mixing can each be quantified, and marine lakes may provide simpler microcosms of more widespread, complex systems. The investigators will quantify the relative impact of physical and biological mixing by swarms of medusae using the General Ocean Turbulence Model (GOTM). Broader impacts: The project will contribute to increased diversity in the oceanography by continuing training of a female Palauan research assistant in marine science, and facilitating the research of two female graduate students. The simulation using GOTM will be employed by resource managers in Palau to explore possible impacts of changing climate, mediated directly by weather or indirectly by jellyfish population dynamics, on the "Jellyfish Lake" ecosystem which is an important biodiversity and economic resource in Palau. The GOTM model will be adaptable to explore diverse coastal situations, promoting thorough exploration of the potential of biomixing in the ocean.