The ecophysiological relationship between the behavioural strategies and trophic nature of planktonic flagellates

浮游鞭毛虫是一组具有重要生态意义的能动真核微生物，其特征在于营养复杂性，涉及光合作用和有机营养素的摄取，以及行为灵活性，从而细胞能够主动感知和响应环境中的资源。虽然人们普遍认为，营养和行为的策略联合收割机，以促进这些生物的生长和生存，很少有研究调查这些因素之间的生理生态关系。使用综合的行为，生理和理论的方法，这个建议的目的是测试这种关系，在十个，营养对比的物种。在基本营养素的不同组合的营养特性的初步测量之后，将进行一系列的行为实验，量化的强度，可塑性和多样性的任何反应的生态代表梯度的替代资源（光，二氧化碳，溶解有机碳和细菌）。并行的光合能力，多因素的生长实验，成本效益分析的生理分析，然后将确定是否行为的偏好是生理动机，并将澄清他们的精力充沛的关系与营养性质。最后，潜在的存在最佳觅食在这些浮游原生生物将被考虑，结果将被放置在一个生态背景下，生存，竞争和分布的功能影响将被讨论。

Planktonic flagellates are an ecologically important group of motile, eukaryotic microorganisms characterised by a trophic complexity, involving photosynthesis and the uptake of organic nutrients, and a behavioural flexibility, whereby cells are able to actively sense and respond to resources within the environment. Although it is commonly believed that trophic and behavioural strategies combine to facilitate the growth and survival of these organisms, few studies have investigated the ecophysiological relationship between these factors. Using an integrated behavioural, physiological and theoretical approach, this proposal aims to test this relationship in ten, trophically-contrasting species. Preliminary measurements of trophic characteristics in different combinations of essential nutrients will be followed by a series of behavioural experiments quantifying the strength, plasticity and diversity of any responses to ecologically representative gradients of substitutable resources (light, carbon dioxide, dissolved organic carbon and bacteria). Parallel physiological analyses of photosynthetic ability, multi-factorial growth experiments, and cost-benefit analyses will then determine if behavioural preferences are physiologically motivated and will clarify their energetic relationship with trophic nature. Finally, the potential existence of optimal foraging in these planktonic protists will be considered, results will be placed in an ecological context and the functional implications for survival, competition and distribution will be discussed.