OPUS: Developing a synthetic understanding of suspension-feeders, master switches in freshwater ecosystems

了解动物如何与环境相互作用并影响能量和营养物质的流动对维持健康的环境至关重要。悬浮食性动物是一种以湖泊和溪流中漂浮的微粒（如浮游生物）为食的动物。因为这些颗粒影响水的清晰度和化学性质，并支持水生食物网，悬浮喂食者可以作为控制食物网的总开关，以及淡水生态系统的物理和化学特性，包括它们对人类的效用。该项目有助于了解淡水生态系统的几个重要管理问题，包括富营养化和有害藻华、生物入侵、渔业和生物污染。更好地了解悬浮饲料应该有助于在所有这些领域更好地管理。该项目还将有助于为从业余爱好者和本科生到研究生和专业人员的受众提供更好的淡水生态系统教育和宣传。本项目将提出和测试有关(i)不同淡水中悬浮食饵的数量和种类的理论；（ii）控制主要淡水悬浮食饵种类丰富程度的因素；（iii）不同种类的悬浮食饵的活动有何不同；（iv）用一种悬浮饲料替代另一种悬浮饲料（通常是由人类活动引起的）如何影响生态系统功能。研究人员将综合现有的数据，写一本书，并开发讲座，与研究人员和学生分享这种新的综合。该项目将刺激和指导对悬浮食饵和淡水生态系统的新研究。

Understanding how animals interact with their environment and influence the flow of energy and nutrients is critical to sustaining a healthy environment. Suspension-feeders are animals that feed on particles (e.g., plankton) drifting in the waters of lakes and streams. Because these particles influence water clarity and chemistry, and support aquatic food webs, suspension-feeders can act as a master switch that controls food webs, and the physical and chemical properties of freshwater ecosystems, including their utility to humans. This project contributes to understanding several important management issues for freshwater ecosystems, including eutrophication and harmful algal blooms, biological invasions, fisheries, and biofouling. Better understanding of suspension-feeders should contribute to better management in all of these areas. This project will also will contribute to better education and outreach about freshwater ecosystems for audiences ranging from amateurs and undergraduates to graduate students and professionals.This project will propose and test theories about (i) the amount and kinds of suspension-feeders in different kinds of fresh waters; (ii) the factors that control the abundance of major types of freshwater suspension-feeders; (iii) how the activities of different kinds of suspension-feeders differ from one another; and (iv) how substituting one kind of suspension-feeder for another (as is often caused by human activities) affects ecosystem functioning. The investigators will synthesize existing data, write a book, and develop lectures to share this new synthesis with researchers and students. This project will stimulate and direct new research on both suspension-feeders and freshwater ecosystems.