RUI: Implications of Taste and Size Selective Feeding by Zooplankton

最近的研究在确定浮游动物，特别是类花青素桡足类动物如何、何时以及在多大程度上利用味觉来区分营养质量不同的食物颗粒方面取得了进展。本建议的第一个目标是建立藻类消费的机制模型，该模型综合了味道和大小选择性喂养的影响。第二个目标是使用Diaptomus和Daphnia作为模型来测试不同摄食模式对食草动物-浮游植物相互作用和浮游动物竞争的影响。这些基本问题将通过现场和实验室实验来解决，这些实验代表了一系列的时间尺度和实验控制程度。食物选择实验将集中在一个新的问题上：行为灵活的食草动物对大型、难以处理的浮游植物的浓度变量选择和摄入。短期和长期放牧操纵将用于比较和对比Diaptomus和Daphnia放牧对天然浮游植物组合的影响。通过与Diaptomus和daphnia的生长和竞争实验，将首次测试通过互补取食生态位（“间接互惠”）进行积极相互作用的可能性，这是浮游动物群落中一个潜在的重要稳定因素

Recent studies have made progress in determining how, when, and to what extent zooplankton, especially calanoid copepods, use taste to discriminate between food particles which differ in nutritional quality. The first goal of this proposal is to develop mechanistic models of algal consumption which integrate the effects of taste and size selective feeding. The second goal is to use Diaptomus and Daphnia as models for testing the implications of contrasting feeding modes for grazer- phytoplankton interactions and zooplankton competition. These basic problems will be attacked using field and laboratory experiments representing a range of time scales and degrees of experimental control. Food selection experiments will focus on a new question: concentration-variable selection and ingestion of large, difficult-to-handle phytoplankton by behaviorally flexible grazers. Both short and long-term grazer manipulation will be used to compare and contrast the impacts of grazing by Diaptomus and Daphnia on natural phytoplankton assemblages. The possibility of positive interactions through complementary feeding niches ("indirect mutualism"), a potentially important stabilizing factor in zooplankton communities, will be tested for the first time through growth and competition experiments with Diaptomus and Daphnia.//