Biomechanics of how fish cope with environmental flow and how it influences habitat selection

水的物理特性提出了鱼类必须克服的要求才能获取资源。例如，水的高密度和粘度会导致阻力，从而显着限制鱼的速度和加速度。因此，越来越多的研究表明，鱼的身体和鳍的形态以及游泳运动模式可以赋予各种功能优势。因此，有人假设某些鱼类可能无法在缺乏足够机械能力的栖息地中生存，但这很少经过定量测试。为此，我们需要知道鱼身体的不同部分如何以及何时产生推进力，但直到我最近的方法开发工作为止，我们还没有技术来详细研究沿着自由游动的活鱼的身体和鳍产生的力。我的研究项目侧重于了解温带淡水系统中鱼类形态、身体和鳍的使用模式、性能和栖息地占用之间的关系。这些系统的范围从湍急的溪流到静止的湖泊，鱼类种类及其形态和游动运动在水流梯度上发生变化。我提出了三个短期目标，将支持 2 名博士生、3 名硕士生和 10 名本科生的培训：我将 1）描述在高流量和低流量区域发生的物种内游泳力和能力的变化有多大，2）确定哪些机制允许某些鱼类应对湍流、波浪和环境结构引起的波涛汹涌的水流，以及 3）探索游泳机制与鱼类丰度的对应程度。为了实现这些目标，我将从博物馆标本中收集鱼的形状数据，建立将鱼的形状和丰度与栖息地特征联系起来的生态模型，进行物理力学研究以将形状和运动与游泳能力联系起来，并通过呼吸测量法探索游泳的能量成本。这项工作增进了我们对鱼类能够生活在不同栖息地的形式与功能关系的理解。反过来，这种理解为环境监测和打捞应用中的无人水下航行器设计挑战提供了潜在的仿生解决方案。当前的设计体积庞大且噪音较大；类似鱼的设计对野生动物的干扰较小，并且更适合穿过沉船等复杂结构。更广泛地说，这项工作有利于水生生态系统的管理，水生生态系统在加拿大各地具有商业、娱乐和文化价值。海岸线的人类发展、土地利用的变化以及人为气候变化正在极大地改变水生系统中的水流和湍流，例如增加洪水事件的频率和强度。因此，了解鱼类如何与水流相互作用可以为海岸线建设和栖息地修复工作提供战略指导，最终有助于水产养殖和渔业管理。

Water's physical properties create demands that fishes must overcome to access resources. For example, water's high density and viscosity lead to drag forces that markedly limit a fish's speed and acceleration. Accordingly, a growing body of works suggests that fish body and fin morphology and swimming movement patterns could confer various functional advantages. So, it is hypothesized that some fish species may not be capable of living in habitats for which they lack sufficient mechanical ability, but this has rarely been tested quantitatively. To do so, we need to know how and when different parts of a fish's body generate propulsive forces, but until my recent work in methods development, we have not had the technology to study in detail the forces produced along the bodies and fins of live, freely swimming fishes. My research program focuses on understanding the relationships among fish morphology, body- and fin-use patterns, performance, and habitat occupancy in temperate freshwater systems. These systems range from torrential streams to static lakes, a flow gradient along which fish species and, qualitatively, their forms and swimming movements vary. I propose three short-term objectives that will support the training of 2 PhD, 3 MSc, and 10 undergraduate students: I will 1) describe how much variation there is in swimming forces and capabilities within a species that occurs in both high- and low-flow areas, 2) determine what mechanics allow some fishes to cope with turbulence, the choppy flows resulting from waves and environmental structure, and 3) explore the degree to which swimming mechanics corresponds to fish abundances. To achieve these goals, I will collect fish shape data from museum specimens, build ecological models that link fish shapes and abundances to habitat characteristics, perform physical mechanical studies to link shape and movement to swimming ability, and explore energetic costs of swimming with respirometry. This work advances our understanding of the form-function relationships enabling fishes to live in varied habitats. In turn, this understanding provides potential biomimetic solutions to unmanned underwater vehicles design challenges in environmental monitoring and salvage applications. Current designs are large and noisy; fish-like designs are less disruptive to wildlife and better at maneuvering through complex structures like shipwrecks. More broadly, this work benefits the stewardship of aquatic ecosystems, which have commercial, recreational, and cultural value across Canada. Human development at shoreline, changes to land use, and anthropogenic climate change are dramatically altering flow and turbulence in aquatic systems - e.g., increasing the frequency and intensity of flooding events. An understanding of how fishes interact with flow therefore informs strategic guidelines for shoreline construction and habitat remediation efforts, ultimately contributing to aquaculture and fisheries management.