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起着至关重要的作用，有人认为它们在未来可能会变得更加重要。然而，由于它们很难研究，胶质物种仍然知之甚少。对于较小的滤食性胶状动物尤其如此，如远洋被囊动物（海带、幼鱼和油鱼）。例如，目前尚不清楚这些丰富的滤食性动物在自然界中吃什么，吃多少，以及谁吃它们。该项目将利用新方法和传统方法相结合的方法来调查胶状远洋被囊动物的饮食，以解决这一巨大而重要的知识差距，这种动物在南大西洋湾等多产的大陆架上很常见。该项目还将有助于培养具有经典生物学、现代分子生物学和生态系统建模能力的下一代海洋科学家。培训还将侧重于增加非洲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。这项研究将首次对一种重要的大陆架胶状浮游动物物种——水母（Dolioletta gegenbauri）的原位饮食进行定量估计。大量繁殖的油石有可能控制陆架上层生态系统的营养结构，它们将初级生产转移到微生物食物网，并通过消耗它们的卵来限制桡足类动物的生产。长期目标是了解油石在大陆架上层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潜在过程。这里要解决的基本问题包括：在不同的生命阶段，它们在原地吃什么？大型后生动物的早期生活阶段是它们饮食的重要组成部分吗？胶质是否作为营养级联剂促进初级生产和浮游植物多样性？由于方法上的挑战，目前还没有针对这些基本问题的明确研究。在这个项目中，研究人员将进行实地研究，将最先进的分子技术与更传统的浮游动物生态学方法相结合，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考察将使研究小组能够在野生珊瑚虫生命周期的不同时间点和不同的浮游生物繁殖条件下研究它们。应用最近开发的分子诊断分析将能够定量描述所消耗的猎物的多样性和数量，不受实验操作的影响。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.