Spatial variability of larval fish in relation to their prey and predator fields: Patterns and interactions from cm to 10s of km in a subtropical, pelagic environment

背景：远洋海洋环境中生物的空间格局具有重要的生态重要性，尤其是仔鱼。斑块的猎物和捕食者的环境应该导致捕食者-猎物的相互作用的变化，从而在仔鱼的生长和生存的变化。事实证明，这些问题在自然界中很难解决，这在很大程度上是由于所涉及的空间尺度范围广泛，以及同时对各种过程进行充分采样的技术挑战。这项研究将使用新技术（原位浮游鱼类成像系统- ISIIS），同时测量幼鱼的细尺度分布与它们的猎物，它们的浮游捕食者，和佛罗里达海峡的物理环境。这将与有针对性的精细规模净取样和个别最近每日幼虫生长的分析相结合。 通过采样一系列的水团在非常高的分辨率，这项研究将解决具体的假设：一）聚集和斑块的驱动程序，和ii）捕食者-猎物的相互作用在细scale.Intellectual Merit的生物后果：该研究的主要智力价值是前所未有的检查浮游生物过程中的相关尺度之间的生物相互作用的仔鱼，他们的猎物，和他们的捕食者。这一领域的研究将进一步我们的捕食者-猎物的相互作用，有助于空间明确的幼虫生长和死亡模式的理解。对亚热带浮游食物网的关注将增进对这些研究不足的海洋水层生态系统的科学了解，并为与高纬度海洋水层食物网动态进行比较分析提供宝贵数据。随着海洋经历重大环境变化，在一系列空间和时间尺度上更深入地了解远洋浮游生态系统越来越重要。 例如，胶质生物相对优势的大幅增加有可能造成远洋食物网的重大变化。更好地了解这些食物网的精细互动将有助于社会预测和应对这些变化的后果。更广泛的影响：该项目将涉及传统的教育和培训方法，以及一些非传统的努力，以扩大更广泛的影响的研究。 这项研究将培训本科生和研究生以及一名博士后研究员，重点是跨学科研究，将生物和物理海洋学结合起来，并特别强调图像分析。指导工作将包括重点改善科学交流，并与公立学校中代表性不足的人群进行外联。一项吸引广泛受众的独特努力将利用与公民科学联盟（CSA）的伙伴关系，将本研究中的ISIIS图像纳入Zooniverse“浮游生物之窗”基于网络的项目，该项目将使用志愿公民科学家帮助分析研究期间生成的广泛图像数据库。 最后，该项目将向浮游生物科学界提供先进的图像分析能力，以及一个永久、完整的数字图书馆，其中载有关于浮游生物和幼虫分布的明确的地理参照数据。

Background:The spatial pattern of organisms within pelagic marine environments is of significant ecological importance, and this is particularly true for larval fishes. Patchy prey and predator environments should lead to variation in predator-prey interactions, and thus to variations in larval fish growth and survival. These have proven very difficult to resolve in nature, due in large part to the broad range of spatial scales involved and technological challenges with adequately sampling the various processes simultaneously. This study will use new technology (In Situ Ichthyoplankton Imaging System - ISIIS) to simultaneously measure the fine-scale distribution of larval fishes in relation to their prey, their planktonic predators, and the physical environment of the Straits of Florida. This will be combined with targeted fine-scale net sampling and analyses of individual recent daily larval growth. By sampling a series of water masses at very high resolution, this study will address specific hypotheses concerning: i) the drivers of aggregations and patchiness, and ii) the biological consequences of predator-prey interactions at fine scales.Intellectual Merit :The primary intellectual merit of the study is the unprecedented examination of plankton processes at scales of relevance to biological interactions among larval fishes, their prey, and their predators. This field study will further our understanding of the predator-prey interactions contributing to spatially explicit larval growth and mortality patterns. The focus on subtropical planktonic food webs will enhance scientific knowledge of these understudied pelagic ecosystems and provide valuable data for comparative analyses with pelagic food web dynamics at higher latitudes. A deeper understanding of pelagic planktonic ecosystems over a range of spatial and temporal scales is increasingly important as the oceans undergo major environmental changes. Substantial increases in the relative dominance of gelatinous organisms, for example, have the potential to cause major shifts in pelagic food webs. A better understanding of the fine-scale interactions of such food webs will help society anticipate and respond to the consequences of such changes.Broader Impacts :The project will involve traditional education and training approaches, as well as several non-traditional efforts to extend the broader impact of the study. The study will train undergraduate and graduate students and a post-doctoral fellow, with a focus on interdisciplinary research, integrating biological and physical oceanography with an added emphasis on image analysis. Mentoring will include a focus on improvement in scientific communication and outreach to under-represented populations in public schools. A unique effort to engage a broad audience will draw on a partnership with Citizen Science Alliance (CSA) by incorporating ISIIS imagery from this study into a Zooniverse "Window on Plankton" web-based project, which will use volunteer citizen scientists to help analyze the extensive imagery database generated during the study. Finally, this project will provide advanced image analysis capabilities to the plankton science community, as well as a permanent, complete digital library of positively identified, geo-referenced data on plankton and larval distribution.