Fungus - invertebrate interactions in leaf litter decomposition in aquatic ecosystems - request for a compound microscope

水生丝状真菌有助于水生生态系统的生物多样性，并在将有机物(例如陆地叶凋落物)转化为可供水生食物网内动物消耗的材料方面发挥主要作用。真菌的识别和计数主要基于它们的孢子，需要高质量的复合显微镜。真菌与参与消耗真菌和有机物的无脊椎动物之间的相互作用将被实验操纵，以检验关于这些竞争和捕食者-猎物相互作用的性质的假设。水生食物网的许多其他功能关键组件，如藻类、细菌和小型无脊椎动物，也需要高倍放大才能进行鉴定和计数。作为我研究水生生态系统生产力和生物多样性的环境基础的一部分，这些微生物规模上相互作用的细节变得越来越重要。因此，这个显微镜对于追求这一研究方向是必不可少的。

Aquatic hyphomycete fungi contribute to the biodiversity of aquatic ecosystems, and play the primary role in converting organic matter (e.g. terrestrial leaf litter) into materials that can be consumed by animals within aquatic food-webs.  The identification and enumeration of fungi are based largely on their spores requiring a high-quality compound microscope.  Interactions between fungi and invertebrate animals involved in consumption of fungi and organic matter will be experimentally manipulated to test hypotheses about the nature of these competitive and predator-prey interactions. Many other functionally critical components of aquatic food-webs, such as algae, bacteria, and small invertebrates also require high magnification for identification and enumeration.  As a part of my research into the environmental basis of productivity and biodiversity of aquatic ecosystems, the details of the interactions at the scale of these microscopic organisms become increasingly essential.  This microscope is essential for pursuit of this line of research.