RUI: Collaborative Research: What's their impact?: Quantification of medusan feeding mechanics as a tool for predicting medusan predation

在世界各地的许多地区，水母种群的数量正在增加，有时会导致破坏性的水华。它们的快速生长和高摄食率使它们成为海洋生态系统中重要的捕食者，它们对生态系统和人类活动的影响日益引起人们的关注。不幸的是，科学家目前还不了解决定哪些类型的猎物水母吃什么以及它们吃多少猎物的因素。随着水母经历莫名其妙的种群波动并入侵新的环境，这带来了一个日益重要的知识鸿沟。在这个项目中，研究人员将根据水母的形态、行为和大小，对决定谁和多少水母消耗的因素有一个强有力的理解。这种对它们摄食过程的基本了解将使研究人员能够利用简单的水母特征来预测不同类型水母的生态影响。该项目将包括对一个研究程度很低的群体--根茎水母的研究，它代表了许多有记录的水华事件和地理扩展。此外，这些技术足够强大，可以更广泛地用于研究其他水母物种和其他远洋生物的物理-生物相互作用。参与这次合作的主要研究人员主要来自本科院校。在提案的每一年，学生都会有几个本科生参与到这个项目中。通过在海洋生物实验室的暑期研究，本科生将接触到广泛的研究，并沉浸在研究生环境中，这将强烈影响他们对科学职业的看法。弓首鱼的营养影响是国际上广泛关注的主题，我们的研究成果将与广泛的同事交流，为国际科学对话做出贡献。此外，我们将利用我们与公众科学教育中涉及的媒体(如PBS生命形态系列，新英格兰水族馆展出的奇幻水母)的接触来交流我们的新发现。这个项目的目标是量化控制相遇后捕获过程的变量，以便能够根据不同划艇水母的形态特征和大小预测它们的猎物选择模式和清除速度潜力。为了实现这一目标，PIS将使用实验室和现场摄像和光学技术来量化实验室和野外个体与猎物相互作用的结果。逐步量化遭遇后捕获过程将使它们能够量化不同猎物类型的捕获效率，并确定该过程的哪些阶段对决定遭遇的结果影响最大。研究人员将利用这些定量观察将水母的形态和线虫囊特性联系起来，以提高捕获效率。这将使它们能够预测猎物的选择模式。这些预测将与基于流动的相遇模型相结合，以预测不同猎物条件下不同水母物种的清除速度、潜力和猎物选择。最后，研究人员将使用实验室的瓶子孵化研究来验证我们的预测，以量化被喂养不同猎物组合的水母的猎物选择和清除率。一旦完成，这项研究将为海洋生态学家提供关键的“缺失环节”，以便能够对所有环境中的水母种群的生态影响进行建模和预测。

In many areas around the world jellyfish population abundances are increasing and, at times, result in destructive blooms. Their rapid growth and high feeding rates make them important predators in marine ecosystems and their effects on ecosystems and human activities have increasingly raised concerns. Unfortunately, scientists do not currently understand the factors that determine which types of prey jellyfish eat and how much prey they eat. This presents a knowledge gap of increasing importance as jellyfish undergo inexplicable population fluctuations and invade new environments. In this project the investigators will develop a robust understanding of the factors that determine who and how much jellyfish consume based on their morphology, behavior and size. This fundamental understanding of their feeding process will enable researchers to use simple jellyfish characteristics to predict the ecological impact of different types of jellyfish. This project will include the studying of a greatly under-studied group, rhizostome jellyfish, which represents many of the recorded bloom events and geographic expansions. Further, these techniques are sufficiently robust to have broader use in the study of physical-biological interactions for other jellyfish species and other pelagic organisms. The principal investigators participating in this collaboration are from primarily undergraduate institutions. Student participation in the project will involve several undergraduates during each year of the proposal. Through summer research at the Marine Biology Laboratory, undergraduate students will become exposed to a wide range of research and become immersed in a post-graduate environment that can strongly influence their perception of the scientific profession. The trophic impacts of scyphomedusae are subjects of broad international interest and results of our research will be exchanged with a wide range of colleagues, contributing to international scientific dialogue. In addition, we will use our contacts with media (e.g. PBS Shape of Life series, Fantastic Jellies exhibit at the New England Aquarium) involved in scientific education of the general public to communicate our new findings.The goal of this project is to quantify the variables that control the post-encounter capture process in order to be able to predict the prey selection patterns and clearance rate potential of different rowing medusae based upon their morphological characteristics and size. To achieve this goal, the PIs will use laboratory and in situ videography and optics techniques to quantify the outcome of individual interactions with prey in the lab and in the field. Step-by-step quantification of the post-encounter capture process will enable them to quantify capture efficiencies of different prey types and determine which stages of the process were most influential in determining the outcome of the encounter. The investigators will use these quantitative observations to relate medusan morphology and nematocyst properties to capture efficiencies. This will allow them to predict prey selection patterns. These predictions will be combined with flow-based encounter models to predict clearance rate potential and prey selection of different medusan species under different prey conditions. Finally, the investigators will validate our predictions using laboratory bottle incubation studies to quantify prey selection and clearance rates of medusae fed different prey assemblages. When achieved, this study will provide marine ecologists with the critical "missing links" to be able to model and predict the ecological impact of medusae populations in all environments.