RUI: Collaborative Research: Boundary Layer Hydromechanics and the Ecology of Larval Black Flies (Diptera: Simuliidae)

这项合作研究的目的是测试关于边界层流动对黑蝇幼虫生态学影响的预测模型，黑蝇是重要的溪流昆虫。具体来说，该项目将确定阻力、平均速度、局部水流干扰和背景湍流对幼虫行为、生长和分布的直接影响，以及水流对竞争和捕食者-猎物相互作用的间接影响。黑蝇幼虫是实验室和实地研究的优秀实验对象，因为它们对流量变化反应迅速，摄食和生长速度高，并且在当地溪流中种群密集。视频设备将记录幼虫的摄食和间隔行为，水下力板将测量幼虫的阻力，热膜风速测量将在空间和时间尺度上表征与这些小型溪流生物相关的流体环境。这一结果将代表着边界层流体力学和河流生态学的重大进展。实地研究很重要，因为它们将首次量化小规模湍流对底栖生物的影响。结果将允许评估适应性范例和评估阻力的非灾难性成本。这项研究的信息将为其他底栖生物的物理生态学提供重要的见解。

The objective of this collaborative research is to test predictive models regarding the effects of boundary layer flow on the ecology of larval black flies, important stream insects. Specifically, the project will determine the direct effects of drag, average velocity, local flow disturbances and background turbulence on larval behavior, growth and distribution, as well as the indirect effects of flow on competition and predator-prey interactions. Black fly larvae are excellent experimental subjects for laboratory and field studies, because they rapidly respond to changes in flow, have high feeding and growth rates, and occur in dense populations in local streams. Video equipment will record larval feeding and spacing behavior, submerged force plates will measure larval drag, and hot film anemometry will characterize the fluid environment on spatial and temporal scales that are relevant to these small stream organisms. The results will represent a significant advance in boundary layer hydromechanics and stream ecology. The field studies are important because they will be the first to quantify the influence of small-scale turbulence on benthic organisms. Results will allow evaluation of adaptive paradigms and assessment of the non-catastrophic costs of drag. The information from this study will provide important insights that may be applied to physical ecology of other benthic organisms.