Niche partitioning, larval recruitment, behavioral patterns and taphonomy of Recent Isocrinidae (Crinoidea): paleo- ecological implications

从四个方面考察了佛罗里达海峡新近发现的茎海百合的生物学特征，因为它们有助于理解古生态过程：1)栖息地和食物在以三对共面分布的四个物种之间的生态位划分--它是支持还是驳斥了为化石类群提出的分层、水动力和食物分配假说。测量的变量包括水流速度、茎高、树冠直径、过滤密度、肠道内容物和可获得的食物；2)幼虫对聚集和分散种群的补充贡献；流浪成虫在身体干扰后重新建立聚集的贡献；3)可能的行为模式(摄食、活动或移动模式或周期)与当前状况变化之间的关系；4)现代海百合对沉积物的骨骼贡献，作为古代海百合沉积过程的模拟--死后过程分析和潜在的保存偏向。工作将通过对收集到的材料进行潜水、延时摄影、形态、摄影和沉积学分析来进行。等绿泥石是研究区大型底栖动物组合的主要组成部分，其化石记录可追溯到三叠纪。因此，它们代表了古生态过程的极好的类比。

Four aspects of the biology of Recent stalked crinoids in the Straits of Florida are examined as they contribute to understanding paleoecological processes: 1) niche partitioning of habitat and food among four species distributed as three sympatric pairs--does it support or refute tiering, hydrodynamic and food partitioning hypotheses proposed for fossil taxa. Measured variables include current velocity, stalk height, crown diameter, filter density, gut contents and available food; 2) larval recruitment contributions to aggregated versus scattered populations; contributions of recruitment and relocation of vagile adults in re-establishing aggregations following physical disturbance; 3) relationship between possible behavioral patterns (feeding, activity or locomotory patterns or cycles) and variations in current regime and 4) skeletal contributions of Recent crinoids to sediment as an analogue for depositional processes in ancient crinoidal sediments--analyses of post-mortem processes and potential preservational biases. Work will be conducted via submersible, time-lapse cinematography, morphological, photographic and sedimentological analyses of collected material. Isocrininds represent major components of macroepibenthic assemblages in the study area and have a fossil record dating to the Triassic. As such, they represent an excellent analogue for paleoecological processes.