Coloniality, Carbon Allocation, and Inducible Defenses in a Modular Oraganism

9408228哈维尔植物以及珊瑚和苔藓动物等群体动物被称为模块化生物体，因为它们是由重复的单元组成的。虽然人们知道材料是如何在植物单位之间运输的，但在殖民地动物中，这一过程鲜为人知，因为在殖民地动物中，这种运输在显示出摄食、繁殖和防御之间分工的单位之间转移资源。这项研究调查了材料在单元之间移动的数量和速度是否会限制性能。在海洋苔藓动物膜苔藓虫中，防御单位是由捕食者和竞争对手的接近而诱导的。防御单位的建设减缓了增长，这项研究将调查防御单位的建设是否也改变了群体中放射性同位素标记物的运输。虽然防御成本被广泛认为是生物体部署防御类型的限制，但在任何生物体中，成本背后的机制都没有得到证明。***

9408228 Harvell Plants, and colonial animals such as corals and bryozoans, are termed modular organisms because they are constructed of iterated units. Although it is understood how materials are transported among the units of plants, this process is poorly known in colonial animals, where the transport moves resources among units that show division of labor between feeding, reproduction and defense. This study examines whether the amounts and rates at which materials are moved among the units constrain performance. In the marine bryozoan Membranipora membranacea, defensive units are induced by the proximity of predators and competitors. The construction of defensive units slows growth and this research will investigate whether construction of the defensive units also changes transport of a radioisotpoic marker in the colony. Although costs of defense are widely cited as a limitation on the types of defenses organisms deploy, in no organism has the mechanism underlying the cost been demonstrated. ***