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

Mysid虾是一组浮游动物，分布在世界各地的浅水和深水中的不同水生环境中--淡水、海洋和河口。由于其无处不在的存在，Mysids形成了海洋食物网中的关键一环，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。一个跨学科的研究团队将在缅因州沿海开发和部署一种新型的原位成像系统，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水流、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上培训两名研究生。此外，来自佛罗里达大西洋大学和南缅因州大学的10名学生将被邀请参加生态流体力学的年度研讨会，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，包括作为该项目一部分开发的成像系统，可以用来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。图像数据集将向科学界和公众开放访问。项目成果将通过在海港分部海洋研究所、达林海洋中心和伍兹霍尔海洋研究所的公众宣传讲座进行传播。与其他浮游动物类群(如桡足类、磷虾)相比，Mysids历来被研究得较少，尽管它们无处不在，对海洋食物网也很重要。该项目将研究Mysid的行为、摄食生态和种群分布与猎物可用性、光照水平和背景流动条件的关系，重点是单一的Mysid物种--美洲新肌属。调查人员将使用现场最先进的一套仪器，包括两个独立的成像系统和一个高分辨率的声学多普勒剖面仪，在达马里斯科塔河河口进行现场实验。这套仪器将收集数据，以分析Mysid在其自然环境中的分布和动物-流体相互作用，以及关于底栖颗粒/浮游生物群落组成和物理参数(包括海流、波浪、温度和深度)的辅助数据。多光谱分析将找到与水浊度、水流条件、海底地形、Mysid丰度和食物来源浓度相关的模式。在整个夏季的几个月里，将每周收集几次Mysid样本，以监测Mysid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新菌种群结构的季节性变化如何影响河口内的分布，以及小规模游泳和聚集行为。他们将回答有关在不同浮游动物数量和群组成的条件下，群的组织、聚集和游泳行为有何不同的问题。结果将最终提高我们对海洋生态系统动态的理解。该项目由生物海洋学计划和既定的激励竞争研究计划(EPSCoR)共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.