Aquatic facilities for research animals

温莎大学为合作研究提供了肥沃的土壤，对于我们这些用鱼作为实验动物的人来说尤其如此。鱼类被用来回答生态学和进化中的基本问题，也被用来研究斑马鱼（Danio rerio）作为脊椎动物发育的模型。目前，温莎的每个研究人员都设计了适合他们需要的储藏设施，但随着我们的扩张，这些资源正在超负荷使用。我们正在请求资金，以便更精确地控制饲养和饲养我们的实验物种。由于不同的具体要求，要求为三个不同的物种提供保存设施，但该提案的许多调查人员将参与对不止一个物种的研究。所要求的设施将允许可变光周期控制，以检查入侵物种的生殖机制，并允许分离不同的菌株和家族，以进行进化和遗传分析。要问的具体问题范围从进化和生态学到细胞信号传导和分子生物学。所要求的基础设施将使圆虾虎鱼（Neogobius melanostomus）得到更好的饲养和居住，圆虾虎鱼是加拿大水域备受关注的入侵物种。这将有助于确定对繁殖和生存的环境控制，以制定缓解战略。其他研究人员将使用部分要求的基础设施开始对特立尼达孔雀鱼（Poecilia reticulata）的研究，这个物种有很大的潜力来回答温莎许多人感兴趣的进化问题。最后，第三个基础设施正在被要求支持斑马鱼的工作。斑马鱼由于其快速的繁殖速度、良好的基因组特征和大量的分子生物学突变体而成为一种强大的模式生物。为了适当地扩大我们在斑马鱼方面的合作研究，我们需要高密度的斑马鱼养殖设施，如下所述。这将进一步促进感官生物学、生态学和分子生物学研究人员之间的合作，以回答科学前沿的问题。

The University of Windsor provides fertile ground for collaborative research and this is especially true of those of us that use fish as experimental animals.  Fish are used both for those using selected species to answer fundamental questions in ecology and evolution and for those researchers using the zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a model system for vertebrate development.  Currently, each researcher at Windsor has designed holding facilities to suit their needs but, as we expand, these resources are being overtaxed.  We are requesting funds to allow more precisely controlled rearing and holding of our experimental species.  Holding facilities are being requested for three separate species, due to different specific requirements, but many of the investigators on this proposal will be involved in research on more than one species.  The requested facilities will allow variable photoperiod control for examination of reproductive mechanisms in an invasive species, and also allow separation of different strains and families for evolutionary and genetic analyses.   The specific questions to be asked range across evolution and ecology down to cell signalling and molecular biology.  The requested infrastructure will allow better rearing and housing of the round goby (Neogobius melanostomus), an invasive species of great concern in Canadian waters.  This will aid determination of environmental controls on breeding and survival in an effort to develop mitigation strategies.  Other researchers will use a portion of the requested infrastructure to begin work on the Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata), a species that has great potential for answering evolutionary questions of interest to many at Windsor.  Finally,  a third piece of infrastructure is being requested to support work on zebrafish.  Zebrafish are a powerful model organism due to their rapid reproductive rate, well characterized genome, and plethora of mutants for molecular biology. To properly expand our collaborative research in zebrafish we need higher density zebrafish culture facilities, as described herein.  This will further foster collaboration between researchers in sensory biology, ecology, and molecular biology to answer questions at the forefront of science.