Mobile mesocosm pools for the study of the effects of environmental change on predator-prey interactions.

地球上大多数生物生活的环境或多或少已经被人类活动改变了。我的研究计划的目标是了解这些变化，生物（入侵物种的引入）和非生物（浊度，二氧化碳，温度）如何影响水生生态系统中的捕食者-猎物动态。尽管有大量关于特定压力源对焦点物种生理影响的研究，但我们对这些压力源对生态系统的生态影响知之甚少。我想用一种创新的方法，结合行为生态学和感觉生态学，来理解(1)这些变化是如何影响生物体感知和与其变化的环境相互作用的方式的；(2)生物体效应是如何通过食物网的变化反过来影响生态系统功能的。我将购买一套12个中生态池（1100 L）来进行半自然的捕食者-猎物相遇，以便将环境引起的猎物或捕食者行为的变化与营养结果的变化（捕食率，捕食者的猎物选择）直接联系起来。这个设备对我的研究项目至关重要，因为它使我和我的研究生能够发现捕食者和猎物之间潜在的意想不到的相互作用模式。该设备将在整个夏季在不同地点持续使用，因此还需要购买拖车来运输游泳池。考虑到将行为和营养结果联系起来的适用性，我预计我所有的研究生都会高度追捧这种设备。例如，我的3名研究生目前正在等待中生态水池来证实他们的发现，即盐度和浊度对被捕食鱼类抗捕食者变化的影响。我预计在下一个拨款周期中，将有5名研究生在他们的研究项目中包括这样的验证。此外，鉴于校园内缺乏中游生态设施，来自生物学、毒理学中心和环境学院的一些水生生态学家对这种类型的设备表示了兴趣。因此，我预期这些设备将得到充分利用。

The majority of organisms on Earth live in environments that have already been more or less altered by human activity. The goal of my research program is to understand how such alterations, both biotic (introduction of invasive species) and abiotic (turbidity, CO2, temperature) affect predator-prey dynamics in aquatic ecosystems. Despite the wealth of studies about the effects of particular stressors on the physiology of focal species, we know very little about the ecological implications of those stressors for ecosystems. I want to use an innovative approach, combining behavioural and sensory ecology, to understand (1) how these changes affect the way organisms perceive, and interact with, their altered environment and (2) how organismal effects in turn affect ecosystem functions through alteration in food webs. I will purchase a set of 12 mesocosm pools (1100 L) to stage semi-natural predator-prey encounters, in order to directly link environmentally-induced changes in prey or predator behaviour to changes in trophic outcomes (predation rate, prey selectivity by predators). This equipment is vital to my research program, as it allows me and my graduate students to uncover potentially unexpected patterns of interactions between predator and prey. This equipment will be used continually throughout the summer months at a variety of locations and hence also requires the purchase of a trailer to transport the pools. Given the applicability of connecting behavioural and trophic outcomes, I anticipate this equipment to be highly sought after by all my graduate students. For instance, 3 of my graduate students are presently waiting on mesocosm pools to ground-thruth their findings on the effects of salinity and turbidity on antipredator alterations in prey fishes. I anticipate 5 more graduate students to include such validation in their research projects in the next granting cycle. In addition, a number of aquatic ecologists from Biology, the Toxicology Center and the School of the Environment have expressed interest in this type of equipment, given the lack of a mesocosm facility on campus. Thus, I anticipate that this equipment will be fully utilized.