COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Penguin Foraging Reveals Phytoplankton Spatial Structure in the Ross Sea

合作研究：企鹅觅食揭示了罗斯海浮游植物的空间结构

• 批准号: 1141948
• 负责人: David Ainley
• 金额: $ 7.93万
• 依托单位: H.T. Harvey & Associates
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-09-01 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1141948&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: COLLABORATIVE; RESEARCH; Penguin; Foraging; Reveals

AbstractThe Ross Sea is believed to contributes a huge portion (~1/3) of the primary productivity of the Southern Ocean and is home to a similar large portion of the top predators (e.g. 38% of Adelie, 28% of Emperor penguins) of the Antarctic sea ice ecosystem. The trophic pathways in this system are complex in both space and time. One scenario for the Ross Sea ecosystem is that diatoms are grazed by krill, which are in turn the preferred food of fish, penguins and other predators. Phaeocystis colonies, on the other hand lead to grazing by pteropods and other organisms that are a non-favoured food source for top predators. Remotely sensed chlorophyll, indicating all phytoplankton, is then suggested to be a relatively poor predictor of penguin foraging efforts. This is also consistent with notion that algal species composition is very important to penguin grazing pressure, mediated by krill, and perhaps resulting in selective depletion. This collaborative research sets out to use an autonomous glider, equipped with a range of sensors, and informed by satellite chlorophyll imagery to be combined with 3-dimenisonal active penguin tracking to their preferred foraging sites. The effect of localized grazing pressure of krill on the appearance and disappearance of algal blooms will also be followed. Overall the objective of the research is to reconcile and explain several years of the study of the foraging habits and strategies of (top predator) penguins at the Cape Crozier site (Ross Island), with the dynamics of krill and their supporting algal food webs. The use of a glider to answer a primarily ecological questions is subject to moderate to high risk, and is potentially transformative.

摘要据信罗斯海贡献了南大洋的主要生产力的巨大部分（〜1/3），并且是南极海上冰生态系统的类似顶部捕食者（例如38％的阿德利（例如38％，占皇帝企鹅皇帝的28％）的家园。该系统中的营养途径在空间和时间上都是复杂的。罗斯海生态系统的一种情况是，硅藻被磷虾放牧，而奎莉则是鱼类，企鹅和其他掠食者的首选食物。另一方面，小囊体菌落导致倍脚足类和其他生物的放牧，这些生物是顶级捕食者的非偏爱食物来源。远程感知的叶绿素，表明所有浮游植物，然后被认为是企鹅觅食工作的相对较差的预测指标。这也与观念一致，即藻类物种组成对于由磷虾介导的企鹅放牧压力非常重要，也许导致选择性耗竭。这项协作研究旨在使用配备各种传感器的自主滑翔机，并由卫星叶绿素图像告知，将与3-二级活动的活性企鹅跟踪结合到其首选的觅食地点。还将遵循磷虾的局部放牧压力对藻类开花的外观和消失的影响。总体而言，这项研究的目的是调和和解释数​​年的研究，研究了（顶级捕食者）企鹅在Cape Crozier遗址（Ross Island）的觅食习惯和策略，并与磷虾的动态及其支持的藻类食品网。使用滑翔机来回答主要生态问题是中等到高风险的，并且具有潜在的变革性。