CAREER: Comparative Biodiversity and Community Ecology of Chemosynthetic Ecosystems

这个职业发展计划将侧重于整合本科生和研究生到一个创造性的研究计划，重点是几个方面的生态学深？海洋热液喷口，学生有机会参与研究工作的每一个阶段，从最初的实地取样到最后的手稿编写。它还将通过研究的发展将研究带入课堂？该研究员将处理化学合成群落生态学中的三个基本问题：1）热液喷口的群落结构，2）硫化物对喷口物种组成的非生物控制，（3）蚌类底栖动物区系的比较营养和繁殖研究。这些研究项目将为本科生和研究生的研究提供丰富的机会，他们将解决特定的问题，确定为当前的优先事项，美国国家科学基金会？RIDGE计划。PI和威廉玛丽学院的教育目标将通过三种方式得到支持：研究指导？在实地和实验室的正式研究经验将提供给4名本科生，1？2名硕士生和1名博士生学生每年。课程发展？将为高年级本科生和研究生开设一门关于极端环境中的生命的新的讲座课程。将研究转化为教学？过程？将发展定向实验室，以取代更传统的无脊椎动物学调查方法。新的重点将放在功能生物学上，并将以最近文献中发现的方法和问题为基础，并利用靠近切萨皮克湾的特殊机会。一项研究？新实验室建成后，将在学期末对其中一两个实验室进行定向教学，让学生进行自己设计的实验。

This CAREER Development Plan will focus on integrating undergraduate and graduate students into a creative research program focused on several aspects of the ecology of deep?sea hydrothermal vents, with opportunities for student engagement through every stage of the research effort, from the initial field sampling to final preparation of manuscripts. It also will bring research into the classroom, through development of research?oriented laboratories and of a course on Life in Extreme Environments that features the body of work on hydrothermal vents to which the PI is a significant contributor.The investigator will address three fundamental issues in the ecology of chemosynthetic communities: 1) Community structure of hydrothermal vents, 2) Sulfide as an abiotic control on species composition at vents, and 3) Comparative trophic and reproductive studies of mussel bed fauna. These research programs will offer abundant opportunities for undergraduate and graduate research and they will address specific issues identified as current priorities of the NSF?RIDGE Program.Educational goals of the PI and The College of William & Mary will be supported in 3 ways: Research Mentoring ? Formal research experience in the field and laboratory will be provided to 4 undergraduates, 1?2 Master's students and 1 Ph.D. student each year. Curriculum Development ? A new lecture course on Life in Extreme Environments will be developed for advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Incorporating Research into Teaching ? Process?oriented laboratories will be developed to replace the more traditional survey approach to invertebrate zoology. The new emphasis will be on functional biology and will be based on methods and issues found in the very recent literature and which take advantage of specific opportunities afforded by proximity to Chesapeake Bay. A research?oriented approach for one or two of the labs at the end of the semester will be introduced once the new laboratories are established, where students conduct experiments they design themselves.