Collaborative Research: Elucidating the Factors Mediating Particle-Selection Processes in Suspension-Feeding Molluscs: A Functional and Comparative Approach

双壳类软体动物(如蛤、牡蛎、扇贝)是底栖群落中最重要的成员之一，无论是对环境的影响还是商业价值都是如此。这些动物拥有高效而复杂的机制来过滤周围的水，并捕获和分类其中的颗粒。它们的摄食过程强烈地耦合了水柱和底层群落，并可能影响近岸生态系统的总体“健康”。双壳类很好地适应了从水中过滤出的有生命的和无生命的颗粒之间的选择，摄取一些，并拒绝另一些回到环境中。由于双壳类在海洋环境中的关键作用，了解双壳类区分颗粒的机制和控制这一过程的因素非常重要。在这项研究中，来自两所大学的科学家将合作阐明双壳类如何对从环境中获得的食物颗粒进行分类。基于他们最近开发的化验方法，研究人员开发了几条研究路线，使他们能够在细胞和器官水平上调查选择的基础。特别是，他们将研究颗粒与摄食器官之间的相互作用，包括：a)非特定的物理和化学相互作用(例如，电荷、润湿性、密度)；b)特定的化学相互作用(例如，糖-凝集素结合)；c)由化学接收和颗粒运输纤毛活动的变化带来的行为介导的相互作用。了解控制食物选择的因素提供了关于一系列生物系统的重要信息，包括种间相互作用、海洋群落结构和生物能量学。这项拟议的研究代表了确定双壳类食物选择的潜在机制的第一步，并将极大地促进对这一基本过程的理解。这项研究还将增加越来越多的关于动物中基于凝集素的识别系统的知识。研究人员将培训研究生和本科生，他们将参与研究的各个方面，并将参加科学会议。结果将通过科学文献、会议和面向非专家的文章来传播。研究小组将与康涅狄格州的COSEE-TEK合作，为正式(如高中教师)和非正式(如水族馆工作人员)的教育工作者提供基于技术的教育体验。教育工作者将接受关于拟议研究中使用的仪器操作的基本培训，并学习如何将其应用于海洋生物研究。

Bivalve molluscs (e.g., clams, oysters, scallops) are among the most important members of bottom-dwelling communities, both for their environmental impacts and commercial value. These animals possess highly efficient and complicated mechanisms for filtering the water around them, and capturing and sorting particles therein. Their feeding processes strongly couple water-column and bottom communities, and can influence the general "health" of near-shore ecosystems. Bivalves are well adapted for selecting between living and non-living particles that they filter from the water, ingesting some and rejecting others back into the environment. Because of their key role in the marine environment, it is important to understand the mechanisms by which bivalves discriminate among particles and the factors that control this process. In this research, scientists from two universities will collaborate to elucidate how bivalves sort food particles obtained from the environment. Based on their recently developed assays, the researchers have developed several lines of research that will allow them to investigate the bases of selection at the cell and organ level. In particular, they will study the interactions between particles and the feeding organs, including: a) non-specific physical and chemical interactions (e.g., charge, wettability, density); b) specific chemical interactions (e.g., sugar-lectin associations); c) behaviorally mediated interactions brought about by chemoreception and changes in the activity of particle-transport cilia. Understanding the factors that control diet selection has provided important information on a range of biological systems including interspecific interactions, marine community structure and bioenergetics. The proposed research represents the first step in defining the underlying mechanisms of diet selection in bivalves and will significantly advance an understanding of this fundamental process. This study will also add to the growing body of knowledge of lectin-based recognition systems in animals. The researchers will train graduate and undergraduate students who will be involved in various aspects of the research and will participate in scientific conferences. Results will be disseminated through scientific literature, conferences, and articles for non-specialists. The research team will partner with Connecticut's COSEE-TEK to provide technology-based educational experiences for formal (e.g., high school teachers) and informal (e.g., aquarium staff) educators. Educators will receive basic training in the operation of instruments used in the proposed research and learn how they can be applied to the study of marine organisms.