Meiobenthic Interactions with the Larvae/Juveniles of Macrobenthos

人们认为，小底生动物会干扰大型海洋动物（即大型底栖动物）的幼虫招募，无论是在它们定居的过程中，还是在幼体成熟并占据沉积物的过程中。除了一些来自沙质沉积物的实验证据表明，一些湍流虫吃定居的幼虫外，人们对这种“小动物瓶颈”的性质知之甚少。实验将测试不同功能的小底栖动物对大型动物幼虫成功定居、幼鱼运动和幼鱼生长和存活的影响。在实验室和野外实验中，将允许功能不同的大型动物幼虫与功能不同的小底栖动物一起定居，以确定另一种小底栖动物类型是否抑制或促进了幼虫的定居。在实验室中，将允许大型动物从小型动物斑块迁移，以测试小型动物对幼体迁移和分散的影响。此外，将选定的大型底栖动物幼鱼与不同的小型动物生活在一起，以确定对幼鱼生存和生长的影响。这些实验旨在预测在功能不同的小底栖动物存在的情况下早期大型动物的招募、生长和存活。

Meiobenthic animals are thought to interfere with larval recruitment of large marine animals known as macrobenthos, both as they settle and subsequently as the young juveniles mature and occupy sediments. The nature of this "meiofaunal bottleneck" is poorly understood except for some experimental evidence from sandy sediments that some turbellarians eat settled larvae. Experiments will be undertaken to test the effect of functionally different meiobenthos on the success of macrofaunal larval settlement, juvenile movement, and juvenile growth and survival. In both laboratory and field experiments functionally different kinds of larval macrofauna will be allowed to settle with functionally different meiobenthos to determine if one more meiobenthic type inhibits or enhances larval settlement. In the laboratory, metamorphosed macrofauna will be allowed to migrate from meiofaunal patches to test the effect of meiofauna on juvenile emigration and dispersion. Additionally selected macrobenthic juveniles will be forced to live with different meiofauna to determine the effect on juvenile survivorship and growth. The experiments are designed to predict early macrofaunal recruitment, growth, and survivorship in the presence of functionally different meiobenthos.