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R/DO-20
Trophic dynamics in Chesapeake Bay: Ecological and biochemical approaches to the study of flows of carbon from phytoplankton to bacterioplankton
Principal Investigator:
Hugh W. DucklowStart/End Year:
1991 - 1993Institution:
Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental ScienceCo-Principal Investigator:
Madilyn Fletcher, Center of Marine Biotechnology, University of Maryland Biotechnology InstituteTopic(s):
- Ecosystems and Restoration
Description:
The overall objective is to understand the role of bacteria in decomposition of phytoplankton biomass and the importance of this process in the trophic dynamics and movement of toxic substances through Chesapeake Bay. Specific objectives are to analyze biochemically and microbiologically suspended phytodetritus, estimate bacterial production derived from decomposition of phytodetritus in the mesohaline and oligohaline regions of the Bay, and investigate the utilization of particulate substrates by bacteria in laboratory model systems.
Funding Start Year
1991
Funding End Year
1993
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Featured Fellow
Nina Santos
Nina Santos is a Ph.D. student at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. For her dissertation, she is focused on small shrimp-like crustaceans called mysids – an understudied yet important part of many estuarine and coastal food webs.
Featured Research Project
Developing a habitat model for mysids, an important link in Chesapeake Bay food webs
Mysids are important mesozooplankton prey for many species of fish in Chesapeake Bay and are an important link in transferring energy from lower to upper trophic levels. Mysids also serve as biological vectors for benthic-pelagic coupling due to their diel vertical migration and omnivorous prey-switching behavior, which makes mysids important regulators of food web architecture. Despite their central role in coastal food webs, surprisingly little is known about mysid ecology and dynamics in Chesapeake Bay.
