The role of salps for carbon export in Southern Ocean - Does surface phytoplankton distribution reflect salp export potential?

海鞘是南大洋有机碳向下运输的重要媒介，因为它们产生大量密集的粪便颗粒，这些颗粒迅速沉入水柱。目前的项目侧重于南大洋两种海鞘（Salpa thompsoni和Ihlea racovitzai）出口材料的质量和数量，以应对区域和季节性粮食条件。通过用标记色素分析、显微镜检查和碳测量来调查它们的肠道内容物，特别是关于消化和消化效率，将确定不同天然饮食的海鞘的摄取和排泄。这项研究将扩大的浮游植物组合和卫星叶绿素浓度的信息，并对salp分布的不同季节和几个地区的南大洋，并将使我们能够确定的作用salp喂养结构南极远洋生态系统及其对碳转移的影响在南大洋。

Salps are an important mediator of the downward transport of organic carbon in the Southern Ocean as they produce high quantities of densely packed faecal pellets which rapidly sink through the water column. The current project focuses on the quality and quantity of exported material of the two Southern Ocean salps, Salpa thompsoni and Ihlea racovitzai in response to regional and seasonal food conditions. By investigating their gut content with marker pigment analysis, microscopic examination and carbon measurements, particularly in regard to digestion and digestion efficiency, ingestion and egestion of the salps will be determined for varying natural diets. This study will be enlarged by information on phytoplankton assemblages and satellite chlorophyll concentrations and on salp distribution for different seasons and several regions of the Southern Ocean, and will enable us to define the role of salp feeding in structuring Antarctic pelagic ecosystems and their impact on carbon transfer in the Southern Ocean.