Collaborative Research: Quantifying the trophic roles of epipelagic ctenophores

栉水母是遍布世界海洋的胶状捕食者，它们的掠食性影响可以深刻地影响浮游生物群落。海洋科学家采用了多种方法来证明这些动物在决定沿海系统浮游生物组成和能量流动方面所起的关键作用。然而，海洋栉水母的作用仍然很少有文献记载。海洋栉水母的特点是更细腻的凝胶状身体，通常不能在传统的渔网捕获下存活下来，当它们从无壁的海洋环境转移到船上的瓶子和容器中时，它们的表现也不自然。难以获得海洋物种摄食的定量测量，限制了了解这些生物在海洋系统中的作用的能力。该项目将通过实地研究改变量化海洋栉水母关键过程的能力。然而，栉水母并不是唯一受益于先进的原位方法的脆弱海洋动物。类似的技术和方法可以应用于其他类群，如刺胞管水母、远洋软体动物、海洋雪和大型原生生物，如放射虫。此外，潜水员对这些方法的成功应用将为远程操作车辆（rov）和其他潜水器的应用开辟道路，这些潜水器可以大大扩展该技术的深度和范围。新科学家的培养将涉及博士后、研究生和本科生。调查人员将通过与参与公共教育的媒体和水族馆联系，向广大公众传播新发现，从而扩大公众科学宣传。该项目将通过调整实验室开发的方法并将其应用于实地环境，解决获取关于远洋栉水母作用和活动信息的挑战。研究人员采用了高速、高分辨率成像和流体力学方法来研究这种动物。S在原位环境。这些方法特别适用于对难以进行实验室对照研究而必须在现场进行研究的动物进行实地测量，例如海洋栉水母。该项目的目标是应用高速原位粒子图像测速（PIV）和亮场成像系统来研究一组具有不同形态和潜在可变营养作用的海洋栉水母，以量化：a)它们的流动和摄食机制；B)摄食率和猎物选择；c)它们的营养影响。研究结果将有助于将这些分布广泛且重要的动物的活动纳入上层海洋食物网动态模型。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Ctenophores are gelatinous predators found throughout the world's oceans, and their predatory impacts can profoundly affect planktonic communities. A variety of methods employed marine scientists have converged to demonstrate the key roles these animals play in determining planktonic composition and energy flows in coastal systems. The role of oceanic ctenophores, however, is still sparsely documented. Oceanic ctenophores are characterized by more delicate gelatinous bodies that usually do not survive capture by conventional nets and do not perform naturally when transferred from their wall-less oceanic environment to shipboard bottles and containers. The difficulty in obtaining quantitative measurements on feeding by oceanic species has limited the ability to understand the role of these organisms in oceanic systems. This project will transform the capabilities to quantify key processes of oceanic ctenophores with in situ studies. However, ctenophores are not the only delicate oceanic animals that will benefit from developing advanced in situ methods. Similar techniques and approaches can be applied to other groups such as cnidarian siphonophores, pelagic molluscs, marine snow and large protists such as radiolarians. Additionally, successful application of these methods by divers will open the path for applications on Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and other submersibles that can greatly extend the depth and range of the techniques. Training of new scientists will involve postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduates. The investigators will broaden public science outreach by using contacts with media and aquariums involved in public education to communicate new findings to a wide public audience.This project will address the challenge of obtaining information about the role and activity of pelagic oceanic ctenophores by adapting methods developed in the laboratory and employing them in a field setting. The investigators have adapted high-speed, high-resolution imaging and fluid-mechanics methods to the animal?s in situ environment. These methods are particularly appropriate for field measurements of animals that are intractable for controlled laboratory studies and must be studied in situ, such as oceanic ctenophores. The goal in this project will be to apply high-speed, in situ particle image velocimetry (PIV) and bright field imaging systems to study a suite of oceanic ctenophores possessing distinct morphologies with potentially variable trophic roles to quantify: a) their flow and feeding mechanics; b) their ingestion rates and prey selection; and c) their trophic impacts. The results will enable inclusion of about the activities of these widespread and important animals in models of epipelagic food web dynamics.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.