Collaborative Research: Pteropod Swimming Behavior as a Bio Assay for Ocean Acidification

海洋酸化是一个严重的威胁，特别是对从海水中沉淀碳酸钙的生物。一种具有文石外壳的生物是高纬度生态系统的关键，那就是翼足类。对于OA，翼足类动物的外壳会变薄，因为文石是高度可溶的。当外壳变薄时，它会改变动物的质量分布和浮力，这将影响动物的运动，并通过它影响所有依赖运动的行为，如觅食、交配、躲避捕食者和迁徙模式。较低的壳重将被较小的粘液网所抵消，潜在地降低摄食率和碳通量。这项跨学科的研究依赖于对翼足类软体动物Limacina helicina在其自然环境中游泳行为的生物学研究，以及基于三维层析粒子图像测速仪和计算流体力学(CFD)的游泳流体力学分析。这项工作将：(A)确定螺旋藻如何使用它的翅膀？(B)研究其运动运动学是否提供有效的推进；(C)确定影响其游动轨迹和摆动的因素；以及(D)综合所有数据和见解，以确定可能利用翼足类的游泳行为作为对海洋生态系统的生物测定的准则。失去这些人为增加二氧化碳的前哨，可能导致生态转变，因为生态系统翼足类负责摄取南大洋近一半的初级生产力，也是鱼类等上层营养层的主要食物来源。由于运动数据可以立即收集，本提案中正在开发的生物测定可以作为对浮游生物中这一重要成员即将发生的OA影响的早期预警。学生和研究人员将通过与生物海洋学家、流体力学专家和CFD专家合作，在丰富的跨学科研究环境中进行合作？再加上在南极工作所需要的团队精神。通过在挪威和帕尔默空间站建立一种独一无二的3D层析成像系统来可视化浮游生物周围的流动，我们增加了最先进技术的国际交流。除了研究生之外，研究团队还包括本科生、高中生和代表性不足的少数族裔，这将使当前研究的教育影响成倍增加。

Ocean acidification (OA) poses a serious threat, particularly to organisms that precipitate calcium carbonate from seawater. One organism with an aragonite shell that is a key to high latitude ecosystems is the pteropod. With OA, the pteropod shell will thin because the aragonite is highly soluble. As the shell thins, it changes the mass distribution and buoyancy of the animal, which will affect locomotion and through it, all locomotion dependent behavior such as foraging, mating, predator avoidance and migratory patterns. A lower shell weight will be counterbalanced by a smaller mucus web potentially decreasing ingestion rates and carbon flux rates. This interdisciplinary research relies on biological studies of swimming behavior of the pteropod mollusk Limacina helicina in their natural environments with fluid mechanics analyses of swimming hydrodynamics via 3D tomographic particle-image velocimetry and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). This work will: (a) determine how the L. helicina uses its ?wings? (parapodia) to propel itself; (b) examine whether its locomotory kinematics provide efficient propulsion; (c) identify the factors that influence swimming trajectory and ?wobble?; and (d) synthesize all data and insights into guidelines for the potential use of pteropod swimming behavior as a bioassay for OA.The loss of these sentinels of anthropogenic increases in CO2 may result in an ecological shift since thecosome pteropods are responsible for ingesting nearly half the primary production in the Southern Ocean and also serve as a primary food resource to upper trophic levels like fish. Since locomotory data can be gathered immediately, the bioassay being developed in this proposal may serve as an early warning of the impending onset of OA effects on this important member of the plankton. Students and researchers will collaborate in a rich interdisciplinary research environment by working with a biological oceanographer, a fluid mechanics expert and a CFD expert ? coupled with the teamsmanship needed for work in the Antarctic. By setting up a one-of-a-kind 3D tomography system for visualizing flow around planktonic organisms in Norway and at Palmer Station, we increase international exchange of state-of-the-art techniques. The educational impact of the current research will be multiplied by including in the research team, undergraduate students, high-school students and underrepresented minorities in addition to graduate students.