Biology of Oithona similis (Copepoda: Cylopoida) in the Arctic, Antarctic and North Sea

Oithona similis隶属于桡足纲环足纲。它在世界海洋的许多地方都非常丰富，被认为是一个世界性的物种。该项目的目的是查明在三个选定的研究区域(北极、南极和北海)的关键物种--相似野生稻是否真的是世界性物种。另一个目标是更好地了解它的生活史(或者如果它们的生活史中有神秘的物种)，包括取食习性和发育阶段的世代时间，以及食物资源和温度在它的生活史中的联合作用/S。文献中充满了关于相似拟泥蛾生物学各个方面的相互矛盾的信息。主要目标将是找到这些矛盾的原因，无论它们是由物种巨大的生物学和/或遗传灵活性造成的，还是由存在几个神秘物种的事实造成的。这种种可能是非常狭长的，正如它们相似甚至相同的形态所表明的那样。这将通过使用遗传学和形态学技术进行研究。然后，结果将决定进一步的程序。如果是世界性物种，将检查三个研究区内是否存在形态上不同的种群。在另一种情况下，它将被区分为单一的神秘物种。

Oithona similis belongs to the Copepoda Cyclopoida. It is highly abundant throughout many parts of the world ocean and supposed to be a cosmopolitan species. Aim of this project is to find out whether O. similis, a key species in the three chosen study areas (Arctic, Antarctic and North Sea), is indeed a cosmopolitan species. A further goal is a better understanding of its life cycle (or in case there are cryptic species of their life cycles) including feeding habits and generation times of the developmental stages, as well as the combined role of food resources and temperature within its/their life cycle/s. The literature is full of contradictory information on all aspects of the biology of O. similis. The main goal will be to find the reasons for these contradictions, whether they are caused by the great biological and/or genetical flexibility of the species or by the fact that there are several cryptic species. Such species may be very stenoecious as indicated by their similar or even identical morphology. This will be studied by using genetical and morphological techniques. The results will then dictate the further procedure. In case of a cosmopolitan species it will be examined whether morphologically different populations exist within each of the three study areas. In the other case it will be differentiated between the single cryptic species.