Role of benthic marine invertebrates in carbon flow

这项研究的目的是研究一种蛤的摄食、消化和营养，这种蛤生活在纽芬兰沿海水域的细泥中，温度永远低于0°C。蛤很大程度上依赖于春季硅藻华产生的有机物，这些有机物会沉到海底。一个主要的目标是确定蛤对间歇性食物供应的反应。生活在寒冷海洋大陆架底部沉积物中的无脊椎动物在该系统的生态中起着重要作用，并且代表了底栖生物群落中大量的碳，但它们的生物学尚未得到很好的了解。常年低于0°C的水域为研究冷水生态学和生态生理学提供了一个天然的实验室，也允许经常采样。这项工作还将集中在长链多不饱和脂肪酸在蛤蜊体内的积累，这对维持生物膜的完整性很重要。

The goal of this research is to study feeding, digestion and nutrition in a clam, Yoldia hyperborea, which lives in fine mud in coastal waters of Newfoundland at temperatures permanently below 0°C. The clam depends heavily on organic matter from the spring diatom bloom, which sinks to the bottom. A major objective is to determine how the clam responds to an intermittent food supply. Invertebrate animals that live in bottom sediments on the continental shelf in cold oceans play an important role in the ecology of the system, and represent a significant amount of the carbon tied up in the benthic community, yet their biology is not well understood. The close proximity of water that is below 0°C year-round provides a natural laboratory for studying cold-water ecology and ecophysiology and also permits frequent sampling. The work will also focus on the accumulation of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids by the clam, which are important in maintaining the integrity of biological membranes.