RUI: Influence of Environmental Factors on Migratory Behavior

定向和迁徙是大多数动物生活史模式的重要组成部分，使它们能够发现和利用有利的环境条件，定位和捕获猎物，并从事生殖和其他社会活动。一个人产生与高峰环境和社会条件相协调的精确定时运动的能力，必须在很大程度上取决于其处理和响应来自其内部和外部环境的相关感官信息的能力。Sydlik博士将研究当地环境因素在马蹄蟹迁徙运动中的作用。这些动物是这种研究的理想选择，因为(1)影响它们迁徙时间的主要环境因素（月球和潮汐周期，一天中的时间）是已知的，(2)大量动物在短距离内反复迁徙，确保了研究的可用性，(3)我们对它们的感觉系统有广泛的了解，(4) Sydlik博士的初步工作表明，超声波跟踪可以用来收集迁徙过程中进入和离开海岸的时间和路径的精确数据。来自动物携带的超声波和环境发射器的数据，以及来自水下独立环境监测装置的数据，将由位于海岸附近的一辆面包车内的计算机收集和处理。利用这些数据，Sydlik博士将评估水深、浪涌方向、盐度、温度、压力和流速对动物外壳的影响，以刺激和指导这些长寿的海洋无脊椎动物的迁徙行为。

Orientation and migration are essential components of most animals' life-history patterns, permitting them to find and exploit favorable environmental conditions, locate and capture prey, and engage in reproductive and other social activities. An individual's ability to produce precisely timed movements coordinated with peak environmental and social conditions must depend heavily on its capacity to process and respond to relevant sensory information from both its internal and external environment. Dr. Sydlik will examine the role of local environmental factors in the migratory movements of horseshoe crabs. These animals are ideal for such a study because (1) major environmental factors (lunar and tidal cycles, time of day) that influence the timing of their migrations are known, (2) large numbers of animals migrate repeatedly over short distances, ensuring availability for study, (3) we have extensive knowledge of their sensory systems, and (4) Dr. Sydlik's preliminary work indicates that ultrasonic tracking can be used to collect precise data on the timing and paths taken into and away from shore during migration. Data from ultrasonic and environmental transmitters carried by the animals, and from a submerged stand-alone environmental- monitoring unit, will be collected and processed by computers housed in a van located near the shore. Using these data, Dr. Sydlik will evaluate the influences of water depth, surge direction, salinity, temperature, pressure, and flow rate over the animals' shells in stimulating and directing the migratory behavior of these long-lived marine invertebrates.