BEST: A novel molecular approach to measuring In situ feeding rates of copepods in the South Eastern Bering Sea.

该奖项由2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》（公法111-5）资助。Durbin 0909415罗德岛大学浮游动物在确定从初级生产者到更高营养水平的碳流方面发挥着关键作用。在白令海东南部，海冰覆盖和夏季分层的时间和范围的年际变化将影响它们在确定碳流路径方面的作用，无论是通过远洋生态系统还是到底栖生物。了解实际的原位浮游动物的饮食组成和摄食率是必不可少的了解碳在这个系统中的流动。使用传统的瓶孵化技术，这些利率的信息将受到损害，因为强大的垂直梯度中的浮游动物猎物环境采样适当的猎物领域困难。PI提出了一个实地调查的桡足类在东南白令大陆架在春季和夏季使用一种新的分子技术，他们已经开发出定量测量摄食率对不同的猎物物种胃内容物分析。他们将使用18 S核糖体RNA基因作为标记来识别桡足类肠道中存在的不同猎物物种，并使用定量实时聚合酶链反应（q-PCR）来测量每个猎物物种的该基因拷贝数。将根据该肠道内容物信息、18 S拷贝数/微生物和DNA消化速率计算摄食率。通过将这些原位摄食率测量与浮游动物丰度测量和猎物场组成相结合，他们将能够确定浮游植物产量在不同环境条件下的命运。最终，他们计划使用这些原地消费估计来评估桡足类在白令大陆架生态系统中碳流动的作用。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Durbin 0909415University of Rhode islandMesozooplankton play a critical role in determining carbon flow from primary producers to higher trophic levels. In the SE Bering Sea interannual changes in the timing and extent of both sea ice cover and summer stratification will affect their role in determining the path of carbon flow, whether through the pelagic ecosystem or to the benthos. Knowledge of the actual in situ mesozooplankton diet composition and ingestion rates is essential to understanding the flow of carbon in this system. Information about these rates using traditional bottle incubation techniques will be compromised because of the strong vertical gradients in the mesozooplankton prey environment making sampling the appropriate prey field difficult. The PIs propose a field investigation of in situ feeding rates by copepods on the SE Bering shelf during spring and summer using a novel molecular technique they have developed to quantitatively measure ingestion rates on different prey species from stomach content analysis. They will use the 18S ribosomal RNA gene as a marker to identify different prey species present in the guts of copepods and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR) to measure copy number of this gene for each prey species. Ingestion rates will be calculated from this gut content information, 18S copy number/organism, and DNA digestion rates. By combining these in situ ingestion rate measurements with zooplankton abundance measurements and the prey field composition, they will be able to determine the fate of phytoplankton production under the varying environmental conditions. Ultimately, they plan to use these in situ consumption estimates to evaluate the role of copepods in carbon flow in the Bering shelf ecosystem.