OPUS: Developing a synthetic understanding of suspension-feeders, master switches in freshwater ecosystems

了解动物如何与环境相互作用并影响能量和营养物质的流动对于维持健康的环境至关重要。 悬浮进食者是以颗粒为食的动物（例如，浮游生物）漂浮在湖泊和溪流的沃茨中。由于这些颗粒会影响水的透明度和化学性质，并支持水生食物网，悬浮喂食器可以作为控制食物网的总开关，以及淡水生态系统的物理和化学性质，包括它们对人类的效用。该项目有助于了解淡水生态系统的几个重要管理问题，包括富营养化和有害藻华，生物入侵，渔业和生物污损。更好地了解悬浮馈线应有助于更好地管理在所有这些领域。 该项目还将有助于为从业余爱好者和大学生到研究生和专业人员的受众提供有关淡水生态系统的更好的教育和宣传，该项目将提出和测试以下理论：（i）不同种类的淡水沃茨中悬浮食饵动物的数量和种类;（ii）控制主要类型淡水悬浮食饵动物丰度的因素;（iii）控制淡水悬浮食饵动物丰度的因素。（iii）不同种类的悬浮食饵动物的活动有何不同;（iv）以一种悬浮食饵动物取代另一种悬浮食饵动物（这通常是由人类活动引起的）对生态系统的功能有何影响。研究人员将综合现有的数据，写一本书，并开发讲座，与研究人员和学生分享这种新的综合。该项目将促进和指导对悬浮物饲养者和淡水生态系统的新研究。

Understanding how animals interact with their environment and influence the flow of energy and nutrients is critical to sustaining a healthy environment. Suspension-feeders are animals that feed on particles (e.g., plankton) drifting in the waters of lakes and streams. Because these particles influence water clarity and chemistry, and support aquatic food webs, suspension-feeders can act as a master switch that controls food webs, and the physical and chemical properties of freshwater ecosystems, including their utility to humans. This project contributes to understanding several important management issues for freshwater ecosystems, including eutrophication and harmful algal blooms, biological invasions, fisheries, and biofouling. Better understanding of suspension-feeders should contribute to better management in all of these areas. This project will also will contribute to better education and outreach about freshwater ecosystems for audiences ranging from amateurs and undergraduates to graduate students and professionals.This project will propose and test theories about (i) the amount and kinds of suspension-feeders in different kinds of fresh waters; (ii) the factors that control the abundance of major types of freshwater suspension-feeders; (iii) how the activities of different kinds of suspension-feeders differ from one another; and (iv) how substituting one kind of suspension-feeder for another (as is often caused by human activities) affects ecosystem functioning. The investigators will synthesize existing data, write a book, and develop lectures to share this new synthesis with researchers and students. This project will stimulate and direct new research on both suspension-feeders and freshwater ecosystems.