Strickler J R
Symp Soc Exp Biol. 1985;39:459-85.
The interaction between planktonic herbivorous calanoid copepods and their food, planktonic algae, is investigated to increase our understanding of the physiological adaptations these small marine animals have acquired in the course of evolution. Emphasis is given to the centimetre -second scale where calanoids encounter algae, select and capture them, or reject them either passively or actively. Most calanoid copepods create feeding currents which can be subdivided into three cores: motion, viscous, and sensory cores. Algae contained in the sensory core are perceived and then re-routed towards the capture area. The perimeter encompassing all the points of these re-routings can be defined as the reactive field of awareness surrounding the calanoid. An analysis of typical biological oceanographic feeding experiments reveals that direct observations are necessary to understand the feeding behaviours and strategies of calanoid copepods. To facilitate further studies, a new experimental set-up has been described and two hypotheses have been formulated. The method allows direct observations, in all three dimensions, of free-swimming herbivorous calanoids and their food in a 6-litre vessel. The two hypotheses are based on the fact that calanoids create feeding currents and orient their bodies within the water column. The first hypothesis states that calanoid copepods create species-specific, and maybe even age-specific, feeding currents. The second one proposes that ambient water motions may act as a mechanism for niche separation in herbivorous calanoid copepods. This latter hypothesis is based on the inference that ambient water motions may interfere with the flow field of the feeding current thereby making it more difficult for calanoids to successfully re-route algae contained in the sensory core of the feeding current.
为了增进我们对这些小型海洋动物在进化过程中所获得的生理适应性的理解，对浮游食草性哲水蚤与其食物浮游藻类之间的相互作用进行了研究。重点关注的是厘米 - 秒尺度，即哲水蚤遇到藻类、选择并捕获它们，或者被动或主动拒绝它们的过程。大多数哲水蚤会产生摄食流，这种摄食流可细分为三个核心：运动核心、粘性核心和感觉核心。感觉核心中包含的藻类被感知，然后被重新导向捕获区域。包含所有这些重新导向点的周边区域可被定义为围绕哲水蚤的反应感知场。对典型的生物海洋学摄食实验的分析表明，直接观察对于理解哲水蚤的摄食行为和策略是必要的。为了便于进一步研究，描述了一种新的实验装置并提出了两个假设。该方法能够在一个6升的容器中对自由游动的食草性哲水蚤及其食物进行三维直接观察。这两个假设基于哲水蚤产生摄食流并在水柱中定向其身体这一事实。第一个假设指出，哲水蚤会产生物种特异性甚至可能是年龄特异性的摄食流。第二个假设提出，环境水流运动可能作为食草性哲水蚤生态位分离的一种机制。后一个假设基于这样的推断，即环境水流运动可能干扰摄食流的流场，从而使哲水蚤更难成功地将摄食流感觉核心中的藻类重新导向。
