Collaborative Research: Characterizing benthic mysid ecology and animal-fluid interactions in response to background flow, food, and light conditions

壳虾是一种浮游动物，分布在世界各地的淡水、海洋和河口等不同的水生环境中，包括浅水和深水。由于mysid无处不在，它们在海洋食物网中形成了一个关键环节，但人们对它们的生态以及与当地环境的相互作用知之甚少。一个跨学科的研究小组将在缅因州沿海地区开发和部署一种新的原位成像系统，在两个夏天的时间里，对mysid在自然环境中的行为进行全面调查，包括它们在不同的当地流量、食物和光照条件下的相互作用和分布。研究人员将在流体力学、仪器仪表和生态学的界面方面训练两名研究生。此外，来自佛罗里达大西洋大学和南缅因大学的10名学生将被邀请参加生态流体力学年度研讨会，鼓励第一代大学生或来自其他代表性不足社区的学生申请。尖端的仪器套件，包括作为该项目的一部分正在开发的成像系统，可用于解决未来与空间模式和浮游动物或鱼类行为相关的不同问题。图像数据集将对科学界和公众开放。项目成果将通过海港分部海洋研究所、达令海洋中心和伍兹霍尔海洋研究所的公共宣传讲座传播。与其他浮游动物群体（如桡足类、磷虾）相比，Mysids在历史上一直没有得到充分的研究，尽管它们无处不在，对海洋食物网也很重要。该项目将调查蚕蛹的行为、摄食生态学以及与猎物可得性、光照水平和背景流量条件相关的群体分布，重点研究一种蚕蛹物种——美洲新蝇。研究人员将在现场使用一套最先进的仪器，包括两个独立的成像系统和一个高分辨率声学多普勒分析器，在达马里斯科塔河河口进行现场实验。该仪器套件将收集数据来分析mysid分布和动物-流体在自然环境中的相互作用，以及底栖生物颗粒/浮游生物群落组成和物理参数（包括电流，波浪，温度和深度）的辅助数据。多光谱分析将发现与水浊度、流动条件、底部地形、蚕蛹丰度和食物来源浓度的相关模式。在整个夏季，将每周收集几次蚕蛹样本，以监测蚕蛹种群丰度、性别比例和阶段结构的变化。研究人员将确定环境变量和种群结构的季节变化如何影响河口内的分布，以及小规模的游泳和聚集行为。他们将回答有关在不同浮游动物丰度和群体组成的条件下，群体组织、聚集和游泳行为如何不同的问题。结果将最终提高我们对海洋生态系统动力学的理解。该项目由生物海洋学计划和促进竞争性研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助。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。

Mysid shrimp are a group of zooplankton that are distributed in diverse aquatic environments – freshwater, marine and estuarine – in both shallow and deep waters throughout the world. Due to their ubiquitous presence, mysids form a critical link in marine food webs, yet little is known about their ecology and interactions with their local surroundings. An interdisciplinary team of investigators will develop and deploy a novel in situ imaging system in coastal Maine over the span of two summers, conducting a comprehensive investigation of mysid behavior in their natural environment, including their interactions and distribution under varying local flow, food, and light conditions. The investigators will train two graduate students at the interface of fluid mechanics, instrumentation, and ecology. In addition, ten students from Florida Atlantic University and the University of Southern Maine will be invited to participate in annual workshops on ecological fluid mechanics, with first-generation college students or those from other underrepresented communities encouraged to apply. The cutting-edge instrumentation suite, including the imaging system being developed as part of this project, can be used to address different questions associated with spatial patterns and zooplankton or fish behavior in the future. Image datasets will be openly accessible to the scientific community and the public. Project results will be disseminated through public outreach lectures at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Darling Marine Center, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.Mysids have been historically understudied compared to other zooplankton groups (e.g., copepods, krill), despite their ubiquitous presence and importance to marine food webs. This project will investigate mysid behavior, feeding ecology, and swarm distributions in relation to prey availability, light levels, and background flow conditions, focusing on a single mysid species – Neomysis americana. The investigators will use a state-of-the-art suite of instruments in the field, including two separate imaging systems and a high resolution Acoustic Doppler Profiler, to conduct field experiments at the Damariscotta River Estuary. This instrumentation suite will collect data to analyze mysid distributions and animal-fluid interactions in their natural environment, as well as ancillary data on benthic particle/plankton community composition and physical parameters (including currents, waves, temperature and depth). Multi-spectral analysis will find correlation patterns with water turbidity, flow conditions, bottom topography, mysid abundance, and food source concentrations. Mysid samples will be collected several times a week throughout the summer months to monitor changes in the mysid population abundance, sex ratio, and stage structure. The investigators will determine how seasonal changes in environmental variables and Neomysis population structure affect distribution within the estuary, as well as small-scale swimming and aggregation behavior. They will answer questions related to how swarm organization, aggregation, and swimming behavior differ under conditions of varying zooplankton abundance and swarm composition. Results will ultimately improve our understanding of marine ecosystem dynamics.This project is jointly funded by the Biological Oceanography Program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.