Development and Employment of New Approaches to the Study ofHydrothermal Vent Organisms

费希尔博士将启动三种类型的热液喷口无脊椎动物与化学自养共生体的研究。这些研究将解决我们对东太平洋隆起北纬13度的物种了解方面的具体主要差距；所开发的技术将有助于今后在任何有双壳类或管虫的热液喷口地点进行调查。第一个是对管虫Tevnia Jerichonana的原位管状生长率的测定，以及相关的测量，这些测量允许将这些测量转换为按重量计算的生长。第二项涉及开发和使用新的和改进的生理学研究技术，使用在压力下孵化的完整鳃制剂(来自嗜热杆菌的)作为完整动物的模型，以及分离的细菌制剂来研究共生体生理学。第三个系列的实验是研究vstientiferan共生菌的浓度和自养固碳率，并将以前的研究扩展到另一种vstientiferan，以供比较。

Dr. Fisher will initiate three types of investigations of hydrothermal vent invertebrates with chemoautotrophic symbionts. These studies will address specific major gaps in our understanding of the species at 13N on the East Pacific Rise; the techniques developed will be useful in future investigations at any hydrothermal vent site with bivalves or tubeworms. The first is a determination of the in-situ tube growth rate of the tubeworm Tevnia jerichonana, and associated measurements which allow conversion of these measurement to growth on a weight basis. The second involves development and employment of new and modified techniques for physiological investigations using intact gill preparations (from B. thermophilus) incubated under pressure as models of intact animals, and isolated bacterial preparations to study symbiont physiology. The third series of experiments are studies of vestimentiferan symbiont concentration and autotrophic carbon fixation rate by R. pachyptila symbionts, and expand previous studies to a second species of vestimentiferan for comparative purposes.