Role of benthic marine invertebrates in carbon flow

这项研究的目的是研究蛤的摄食、消化和营养，这种蛤生活在纽芬兰沿海沃茨的细泥中，温度永远低于0°C。 蛤严重依赖春季硅藻水华产生的有机物，这些有机物沉到底部。 一个主要的目标是确定蛤蜊如何对间歇性的食物供应做出反应。 生活在寒洋大陆架底层沉积物中的无脊椎动物在该系统的生态学中发挥着重要作用，并代表了与底栖生物群落相关的大量碳，但人们对它们的生物学并不十分了解。 全年温度低于0°C的海水近在咫尺，为研究冷水生态学和生态生理学提供了天然实验室，也允许频繁取样。 这项工作还将集中在蛤蜊长链多不饱和脂肪酸的积累上，这对维持生物膜的完整性很重要。

The goal of this research is to study feeding, digestion and nutrition in a clam, Yoldia hyperborea, which lives in fine mud in coastal waters of Newfoundland at temperatures permanently below 0°C. The clam depends heavily on organic matter from the spring diatom bloom, which sinks to the bottom. A major objective is to determine how the clam responds to an intermittent food supply. Invertebrate animals that live in bottom sediments on the continental shelf in cold oceans play an important role in the ecology of the system, and represent a significant amount of the carbon tied up in the benthic community, yet their biology is not well understood. The close proximity of water that is below 0°C year-round provides a natural laboratory for studying cold-water ecology and ecophysiology and also permits frequent sampling. The work will also focus on the accumulation of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids by the clam, which are important in maintaining the integrity of biological membranes.