IDBR: Development of a Miniaturized Implantable Satellite Transmitter to Monitor Survival, Predation and Reproduction in Marine Endotherms

IDBR：开发微型植入式卫星发射器来监测海洋恒温动物的生存、捕食和繁殖

• 批准号: 0964253
• 负责人: Markus Horning
• 金额: $ 48.48万
• 依托单位: Oregon State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-04-15 至 2014-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0964253&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: IDBR; Development; Miniaturized; Implantable; Satellite

Oceans comprise the majority of the Earth's biosphere, and marine ecosystems are faced with profound changes driven by natural and anthropogenic factors, including resource extraction and climate change. Many upper trophic marine linkages remain unresolved, largely due to a lack of viable approaches for collecting life history and vital rate data from species that are often impossibly to observe directly. Essential data include age specific survival as well as causes of mortality such as predation. Such data are crucial to assess prevalence of top down (consumer driven) and bottom up (resource driven) effects, essential to our understanding of challenged marine ecosystems, but cannot yet be collected by single experimental approaches at comparable temporal and spatial resolutions.Building on a successful proof-of-concept development that provided the first direct at-sea determination of predation on a marine mammal from post-mortem satellite transmissions, a miniaturized implantable life-long satellite monitor will be developed to provide high resolution data on mortality, predation and vital rates in marine homeotherms. The new Life History Transmitters are designed to be implanted into animals as small as sea otters, and will record vital data through the life of the host. Data on reproductive events and causes of mortality will be transmitted post-mortem via satellite. The new instrument will allow innovative experimental paradigms for the study of predator-prey relationships in multi-species upper trophic marine assemblages, and should lead to a surge in our understanding of complex marine ecosystems, upper trophic linkages and prevalence of consumer- and resource-driven effects.This joint development will be led by Oregon State University's Pinniped Ecology Applied Research Laboratory, with Oregon State's School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering and Wildlife Computers Inc. (Redmond, WA), a leading manufacturer of marine vertebrate telemetry devices. Undergraduate and graduate students in the Computational Mechanics and Applied Design Laboratory will participate in the multi-disciplinary integrative application of technological innovation to promoting transformative biological research. The engineering students will design a programmable pressure-cycling dive simulator, as well as an antenna cover for the implantable device from advanced composite materials. Existing miniaturized satellite transmitter components will be modified by Wildlife Computers to allow the targeted size reduction to 50% (by volume) of the proof-of-concept device. Computational algorithms will be developed by the Pinniped Ecology Laboratory to allow determination of reproductive events and predation by the operational software of the devices.Through a dedicated education and outreach package, the linkages between technological innovation and biological research will be brought to a broad public audience including potential users of the new instrument, other scientists, public people of all ages, as well as K-12 school children. The outreach package will utilize a purpose built exhibit at the Hatfield Marine Science Visitor Center in Oregon, a Sea Grant supported marine education venue serving over 150,000 visitors and 12,000 K-12 students, as well as a project dedicated web site (www.sealtag.org), and will provide specifically developed curriculum elements that meet National Science Education Standards and Ocean Literacy Principles. Curricula will be made available via the project website and to the wider Sea Grant audiences. After completion of the development, the new instrument will be made commercially available through Wildlife Computers (www.wildlifecomputers.com).

海洋占地球生物圈的大部分，海洋生态系统正面临着自然和人为因素（包括资源开采和气候变化）的深刻变化。许多上层营养海洋之间的联系仍未得到解决，这主要是由于缺乏从通常不可能直接观察到的物种收集生活史和生命率数据的可行方法。基本数据包括特定年龄的生存以及死亡原因，如捕食。这些数据对于评估自上而下（消费者驱动）和自下而上（资源驱动）效应的普遍程度至关重要，这对我们了解受到挑战的海洋生态系统至关重要，但目前还无法通过单一的实验方法在可比的时间和空间分辨率下收集这些数据。一项成功的概念验证开发提供了第一次从死后卫星传输直接在海上确定海洋哺乳动物被捕食的情况，在此基础上，将开发一种微型植入式终身卫星监测仪，以提供关于海洋恒温动物死亡率、捕食率和生命率的高分辨率数据。新的生命史传送器被设计用于植入小到海獭的动物体内，并将记录宿主一生中的重要数据。关于生殖事件和死亡原因的数据将在死后通过卫星传送。新仪器将为研究多物种上营养海洋组合中的捕食者-猎物关系提供创新的实验范例，并将使我们对复杂的海洋生态系统、上营养联系以及消费者和资源驱动效应的普遍存在的理解大大增加。这项联合开发将由俄勒冈州立大学的鳍足生态学应用研究实验室、俄勒冈州立大学机械、工业和制造工程学院以及野生动物计算机公司（Redmond， WA）领导，后者是海洋脊椎动物遥测设备的领先制造商。计算力学与应用设计实验室的本科生和研究生将参与技术创新的多学科综合应用，以促进变革性生物学研究。工程专业的学生将设计一个可编程的压力循环潜水模拟器，以及用先进的复合材料为植入式装置设计一个天线罩。野生动物计算机公司将对现有的小型化卫星发射机部件进行修改，以使概念验证设备的目标尺寸减小到50%（按体积计算）。鳍足类生态学实验室将开发计算算法，以便通过设备的操作软件确定繁殖事件和捕食行为。通过专门的教育和推广方案，将向广大公众介绍技术创新与生物研究之间的联系，包括新仪器的潜在用户、其他科学家、所有年龄的公众人士以及K-12学龄儿童。推广方案将利用俄勒冈州哈特菲尔德海洋科学游客中心的一个专门建造的展览，这是一个由海洋基金支持的海洋教育场所，为超过15万名游客和1.2万名K-12学生提供服务，以及一个项目专用网站（www.sealtag.org），并将提供符合国家科学教育标准和海洋素养原则的专门开发的课程元素。课程将通过项目网站提供给更广泛的海洋基金受众。开发完成后，新仪器将通过Wildlife Computers （www.wildlifecomputers.com）商业化。