Behavior of Individual Planktonic Copepods: Ecological Significance of Perception and Response of Predators and Prey Organisms

该项目的长期目标是确定和描述控制海洋浮游动物丰度、组成和分布的关键过程。桡足类感知与清除率关系的最新结果指出了感知的重要性，并导致了主要假设，为未来三年的研究提出了基础。两者，信号感知性能，并作出反应的能力，决定了猎物生物体是否避免，逃离，或被捕食者捕获。该项目将研究在美国东南大陆架发现的各种丰富的猎物（纤毛虫，桡足类无节幼体）和捕食者（无节幼体，桡足类和成年桡足类）的行为。结果将用于分类行为，并计算大量桡足类物种的早期幼仔的死亡率。即使是最丰富的桡足类物种的早期幼体的原地死亡率估计也很少，很难获得。对特定种、特定阶段的运动、摄食等行为进行量化的方法，与传感器性能和形态的关系，将最终导致对海洋中桡足类存在和共存的理解。结合以生态为导向的努力和平行的研究mechanosensors和chemosensors的生理学，拟议的研究将有助于了解什么支配浮游动物在海洋中的行为。

The long.term goal of the project is to identify and describe key processes which govern the abundance, composition and distribution of zooplankton in the ocean. Recent results on the relationship of copepod perception to clearance rate pointed to the significance of perception, and led to the main hypothesis, underlying the research proposed for the next three years. Both, signal perception performance, and the ability to respond to it, determines whether prey organisms avoid, escape from, or are captured by predators. This project will examine the behavior of various abundant prey (ciliates, copepod nauplii) and predators (nauplii, copepodites and adult copepods) found off the southeastern continental shelf of the U.S.A. The results will be used to taxonomically classify behaviors, and to calculate mortality rates for early juveniles of abundant species of copepods. Estimates of in situ mortality rates for early juveniles even of the most abundant copepod species are scarce and very difficult to obtain. The approach of quantifying species.specific, and stage.specific behaviors of motion, feeding, etc., in relation to sensor performance and morphology, will ultimately lead to an understanding of copepod existence and co.existence in the ocean. In combination with ecologically oriented efforts and parallel studies on the physiology of mechanosensors and chemosensors the proposed studies will aid in an understanding of what governs zooplankton behavior in the ocean.