Colony Integration in the Clonal Marine Benthos

群体整合是用来定义群体内分株(例如，动物群、息肉)之间功能相互依赖程度的术语。在许多不同系统中的研究揭示了类群内部和分类群之间的群体整合的重复模式，并发现整合模式和克隆生物生活史特征的模式之间的反复相关性。尽管这种相关的方法取得了成功，但几乎所有关于群体整合的工作都建立在形态推断的基础上，几乎没有尝试直接观察、测量或实验扰乱集群无脊椎动物的血管系统。这项工作将启动一个研究计划，旨在基于对克隆无脊椎动物血管系统的解剖和行为的详细分析，将群体整合的研究建立在坚实的功能基础上。

Colony integration is the term used to define the degres of functional interdependence between ramets (e.g., zooids, polyps) within a colony. Work in many different systems has revealed repeated patterns of colony integration within and between taxa and found repeated correlations between patterns of integration and patterns of clonal organism life history traits. Despite the success of this correlative approach, virtually all work on colony integration has been based on morphological inference, with little attempt to directly observe, measure, or experimentally perturb the vascular systems of colonial invertebrates. This work will initiate a research program designed to place studies of colony integration on a firm functional foundation based on detailed analysis of the anatomy and behavior of the vascular system of a clonal invertebrate.