Are Winter Storms an Organizing Force in a Shelf Meiofaunal Community

我们对大陆架小动物群落的了解还很初级，但似乎冬季风暴是一个主要的组织力量。在温带和北方水域，风暴频繁，空间范围大，能够侵蚀沉积物。考虑到沉积物中小型动物的垂直分布，大多数可能会被冬季风暴侵蚀。如果可以证明物种适应了避免侵蚀或从中受益，那么风暴可能与社区组织有关。Thistle博士建议确定冬季出现在冰架上的物种是否能避免侵蚀。对于那些在水中生活的人，他将测试在水中生活的能量消耗是否成为适应的基础。对于那些不能避免侵蚀的，他将测试水柱是否是一个有机会的地方，至少就它们增加能量储备的能力而言。虽然还有其他可能的后果，但这些都是可能的影响，并提供了一个开始调查风暴对大陆架小动物群落组织的影响的地方。

Our understanding of continental shelf meiofaunal communities is rudimentary, but it seems likely that winter storms are a major organizing force. In temperate and boreal waters, storms are frequent, large in spatial extent, and capable of eroding sediment. Given the vertical distribution of meiofauna in the sediment, most could be eroded by winter storms. If it can be shown that species are adapted either to avoid erosion or to benefit from it, then storms may be implicated in community organization. Dr. Thistle proposes to determine whether species present at a shelf site during winter avoid erosion. For those that do, he will test whether the energetic cost of being in the water column underlies the adaptation. For those that do not avoid erosion, he will test whether the water column is a place of opportunity, at least in terms of their ability to increase their energy reserves. Although there are other possible consequences, these are likely impacts and provide a place to begin an inquiry into storm effects on the organization of shelf meiofaunal communities.