浮游生物觅食生态学的机理研究:洞察微型藻类细胞的运动行为

生物运动行为是它们应对恶劣环境胁迫和优化搜寻食物效率导致的进化结果或表型可塑性。目前，科学家已经注意到包括植物在内的所有生物均具有主观的运动行为。然而我们对诸多生物运行行为的内在驱动机制和它们运动行为生态反馈效应了解仍然非常有限。本项目以海洋微型硅藻和虫黄藻为主要生物模型，通过实验获取它们在不同环境下的运行行为特点及其变化规律，建立具有普适广义的生物运动行为模型。结合理论模型和实验数据澄清它们运动行为的可塑性、内在机制和影响因素，并且建立微型藻类细胞的个体运动行为模型。进一步，通过整合个体运动行为和种群动力学过程，建立尺度级联效应的数学模型。结合流体动力学方程，澄清微型藻类细胞的主动运动行为对营养物质传输影响，并探索藻类细胞运动行为对其竞争、共存和物种多样性的影响。该研究成果将提供生物运动行为的新理论模型，可在行为生态与生态系统功能之间建立桥梁，并有助于阐述生态多样性的新机制。

Adaptive locomotion of living organisms contributes to their competitive abilities and helps maintain their fitness in diverse environments. To date, however, our understanding of searching behavior and its ultimate cause remains poorly understood in ecology and biology. Here, we investigate motion patterns of biofilm-inhabiting marine raphid diatom Navicula arenaria var. rostellata and Symbiodinium sp. in two-dimensional space. We will exploit the individual movement behavior at different concentrations of nutrient and describe the motions of cells with a universal theoretical model. Our experimental setup will comparable an optimal foraging strategy with a maximized diffusivity of the theoretical outcomes in which specific movement behaviors are integrated. Theoretical results of this project promote our knowledge on the evolving movement behaviors and optimization of searching behavioral strategy. Combined the classical fluidic dynamics and plankton behavior, we will exploit whether the optimized movement behaviors are an evolutionarily stable strategy to cope with environmental complexity.