SGER: Collaborative Research: Ecological Studies of Organism-Flow Interactions via Advanced Simulation and Diagnostic Techniques

9627463 Hart生物流相互作用在各种各样的生态环境中具有潜在的重要意义。不幸的是，通常很难量化生物体实际生活的复杂流场，从而限制了我们对流量对各种生态过程和模式的直接和间接影响的理解。这项合作研究结合了水生生态学和机械工程（水流和运输过程的模拟和测量）方面的专业知识，将应用工程学中最新的方法进展来描述河流底栖动物居住的水流环境。具体来说，该研究将使用计算流体动力学模型来模拟海底流场，并将使用最近开发的声学多普勒测速仪和热膜风速仪来验证预测。这些经过验证的模型可以详细描述流场特征的时空变化。不同的流场对取食方式、栖息地选择和悬浮取食溪流昆虫分布的影响将通过实验室水槽和现场的实验研究进行检验。这种生物流动关系如何随空间尺度而变化也将被研究。这项“探索性研究小额赠款”将证明这种跨学科方法对溪流和河流生态研究的价值。它最终会导致在各种生态系统中生物流动相互作用的研究取得重大进展。

9627463 Hart Organism-flow interactions are potentially important in a wide variety of ecological settings. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to quantify the complex flow fields in which organisms actually live, thereby limiting our understanding of the direct and indirect effects of flow on various ecological processes and patterns. This collaborative research, which combines expertise in aquatic ecology and mechanical engineering (simulation and measurement of flow and transport processes), will apply recent methodological advances in engineering to describe the flow environments inhabited by stream benthic animals. Specifically, the research will use computational fluid dynamic models t o simulate benthic flow fields, and will validate the predictions using recently developed acoustic Doppler velocimeters as well as hot-film anemometers. These validated models can provide detailed descriptions of spatial and temporal variations in flow field characteristics. The effects of different flow fields on pattern of feeding, habitat selection, and distribution of suspension-feeding stream insects will then be examined via experimental studies in laboratory flumes and in the field. How such organism-flow relationships vary with spatial scale will also be examined. This 'Small Grant for Exploratory Research' will demonstrate the value of this interdisciplinary approach for ecological studies in streams and rivers. It can ultimately lead to major advances in the study of organism-flow interactions in a wide variety of ecological systems.