Collaborative Research: The cryptic diet of the globally significant pelagic tunicate Dolioletta gegenbauri (Uljanin, 1884.)

胶状（软体）浮游动物在世界海洋的食物网和物质循环中发挥着至关重要的作用，有人认为它们在未来可能变得更加重要。然而，由于它们很难研究，凝胶物种仍然知之甚少。这对于较小的滤食性凝胶状动物，如远洋被囊动物（海鞘、幼虫和珊瑚虫）尤其如此。例如，目前还不清楚这些丰富的滤食性动物在自然界中吃什么和吃多少，以及谁吃它们。该项目将解决这一巨大而重大的知识差距，采用新方法和传统方法相结合的方式，调查凝胶状远洋被囊动物Dolioletti gegenbauri的饮食，Dolioletti gegenbauri是南大西洋湾等生产性大陆架上常见的物种。该项目还将帮助培养下一代海洋科学家，使他们能够胜任经典生物学、现代分子生物学和生态系统建模。培训还将侧重于增加非裔美国人在未来科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）劳动力中的代表性。这项研究将提供首次定量估计的一个关键的大陆架凝胶状浮游动物物种，在dolioletta gegenbauri的原位饮食。大量的doliolids有可能通过将初级生产转移到微生物食物网和通过消耗其卵限制桡足类生产来控制陆架远洋生态系统的营养结构。长期目标是了解珊瑚礁在大陆架远洋生态系统中的生态作用和意义，特别是导致其高度时空斑块的基本过程。这里要解决的基本问题包括：在不同的生命阶段，doliolids在原地吃什么？大型后生动物的早期生命阶段是它们饮食的重要组成部分吗？doliolids作为促进初级生产和浮游植物多样性的营养级联代理？由于方法上的挑战，尚未有明确的研究解决这些基本问题。在这个项目中，研究人员将进行实地研究，将联合收割机国家的最先进的分子技术与浮游动物生态学中更传统的方法相结合，以回答有关营养相互作用的问题。每月在南大西洋湾进行的海洋学考察将使研究小组能够在其生命周期的不同时间点和不同的浮游生物水华条件下研究野生doliolids。最近开发的分子诊断检测的应用将使定量描述的多样性和数量的猎物消耗，实验操作公正。额外的实验和理论建模将使研究人员能够将这些数据与更大的生态意义和规模联系起来。

Gelatinous (soft-bodied) zooplankton can play a crucial role in food webs and in cycling of materials in the world's oceans, and it has been suggested that they may become even more important in the future. However, because they are so difficult to study, gelatinous species remain poorly understood. This is especially true for smaller filter feeding gelatinous animals such as pelagic tunicates (salps, larvaceans, and doliolids). For example, it remains unclear what and how much these abundant filter feeders eat in nature and who eats them. This project will address this large and significant knowledge gap by using a combination of new and traditional methods to investigate the diet of the gelatinous pelagic tunicate Dolioletti gegenbauri, a species common on productive continental shelves such as the South Atlantic Bight. This project will also help train the next generation of ocean scientists to be competent in classical biology, modern molecular biology, and ecosystem modeling. Training will also focus on increasing representation of African Americans in the future science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce.This study will provide the first quantitative estimates of the in situ diet of a key continental shelf gelatinous zooplankton species, the doliolid Dolioletta gegenbauri. Large blooms of doliolids have the potential to control the trophic structure of shelf pelagic ecosystems by shunting primary production to the microbial food web and by limiting copepod production via the consumption of their eggs. The long-term objective is to understand the ecological role and significance of doliolids in continental shelf pelagic ecosystems, specifically the underlying processes that lead to their high level of spatial and temporal patchiness. The basic questions to be addressed here include: What do doliolids eat, in situ, at different life stages? Are early life stages of larger metazoans important components of their diets? Do doliolids act as trophic cascade agents promoting primary production and phytoplankton diversity? Because of methodological challenges, there have not yet been definitive studies addressing these fundamental questions. In this project, the investigators will conduct field-based studies that will combine state-of-the art molecular techniques with more traditional methods in zooplankton ecology to answer questions about trophic interactions. Monthly oceanographic expeditions in the South Atlantic Bight will allow the research team to study wild doliolids at different time points in their life cycle and under different plankton bloom conditions. Application of recently developed molecular diagnostic assays will enable the quantitative description of the diversity and quantity of prey consumed, unbiased by experimental manipulation. Additional experimental and theoretical modeling will allow the investigators to link these data with larger ecological significance and scale.