CAREER: The Role of Turbulence Structure in Broadcast Spawning: Exploring Physical-Biological Relationships Through an Integrated Research and Education Program

Crimaldi - 0348855：CAREER：湍流结构在广播产卵中的作用：通过综合研究和教育计划探索物理-生物关系这个CAREER计划是一个结合教育和研究项目，由PI流体力学培训锚定，但其应用扩展到底栖生态学的跨学科研究。该项目的教育和研究方面都基于三个统一目标的基础：（1）物理-生物相互作用的研究，（2）综合教学和研究实验室的发展，以及（3）使用视觉实验室技术促进学习和知识。目的是调查湍流如何影响底栖无脊椎动物常用的外部施肥策略的成功，同时促进流体力学教学方法，强调物理-生物关系，并利用基于视觉的研究技术作为学习工具。许多底栖无脊椎动物通过将配子分别挤出到水流中来繁殖。为了使受精发生，单个配子必须随后接触。局部受精率取决于共生配子浓度的乘积。传统的想法是，由于湍流会迅速稀释浓度，最终可能会阻碍受精。这项研究的核心假设是，湍流搅拌促进了配子在中间时间尺度上的局部聚结，从而提高了受精率。最近的一些研究支持这一观点，但这个问题还没有从过程层面的方法进行调查。 为了检验假设，将进行实验室和数值研究。 实验室实验将利用最先进的双色激光诱导荧光技术来测量水槽中湍流边界层内配子替代物的瞬时聚结。数值模拟将采用粒子跟踪算法，通过伪湍流场跟踪数十万配子。 这两种方法是互补的：实验室实验使用真实的湍流，但数值模拟使研究的各种物理和生物过程的相对重要性，不容易模拟在水槽实验。 该研究计划是在一个更广泛的教育计划的背景下;计划共享的概念，基础设施和技术。 将进行广泛的课程开发，包括创建三门课程，构成环境流体力学研究的新领域，重点是自然系统和物理-生物相互作用中的分散过程。拟议实验室的专用教学设施将加强课程发展。 与研究设施平行的教学水槽将作为本科生和研究生流体力学课程的中心特征。 最后，在研究项目中定量使用的激光诱导荧光流动可视化技术将适用于教育部分的定性和定量使用。视觉技术提供了对基本流体运动以及产生污染物（例如配子、营养物、毒素）分散的复杂湍流流体过程的非凡洞察。该技术将作为教学水槽的互动功能。该技术还将用于制作工作室质量的流体力学现象的数字电影，用于NSF赞助的多媒体流体力学CD-ROM系列（用于本科教育）和在线TeachEngineering数字图书馆（用于K-12教育）。上述活动将促进流体力学领域内和跨学科水平的知识和理解。在流体力学中，控制多个标量的搅拌和混合的过程仍然知之甚少。这项研究将调查搅拌过程是共同的所有湍流。 了解污染物的混合和运输正在成为一个优先事项，因为世界上越来越多地看到分散的化学品被用作武器。 该计划将通过复杂的研究技术作为有效的视觉学习工具的协同融合，以及增强实验室中研究和教学设施的支持性组合，产生广泛的影响。教育光盘系列和在线数字图书馆都计划在全国范围内传播。[编辑于2004年1月20日，J. Pawlik]

Crimaldi - 0348855: CAREER: The role of turbulence structure in broadcast spawning: Exploring physical-biological relationships through an integrated research and education program.This CAREER program is a combined educational and research project that is anchored by the PIs training in fluid mechanics, but whose application extends into interdisciplinary studies of benthic ecology. Both the educational and research aspects of the project are based on a foundation of three unifying objectives: (1) the study of physical-biological interactions, (2) the development of an integrated teaching and research laboratory, and (3) the use of visual laboratory techniques to promote learning and knowledge. The objective is to investigate how turbulence impacts the success of an external fertilization strategy commonly used by benthic invertebrates, while simultaneously promoting an approach to teaching fluid mechanics that emphasizes physical-biological relationships and makes use of visual-based research techniques as learning tools. Many benthic invertebrates reproduce by separately extruding gametes into the flow. For fertilization to take place, individual gametes must subsequently come into contact. The local fertilization rate depends on the product of co-occurring gamete concentrations. Conventional thought has been that, since turbulence rapidly dilutes the concentrations, it might ultimately hinder fertilization. The central hypothesis in the proposed research is that turbulent stirring promotes local coalescence of gametes at intermediate timescales, thus enhancing fertilization rates. Several recent studies support this idea, but the problem has not been investigated from a process-level approach. To test the hypothesis, laboratory and numerical investigations will be performed. The laboratory experiments will utilize a state-of-the-art, dual-color laser-induced fluorescence technique to measure the instantaneous coalescence of gamete surrogates within a turbulent boundary layer in a flume. The numerical simulations will employ a particle-tracking algorithm to track several hundred thousand gametes through a pseudo-turbulent field. The two approaches are complimentary: the laboratory experiments use real turbulence, but the numerical simulations enable studies of the relative importance of various physical and biological processes not easily simulated in the flume experiments. The research plan is in the context of a broader educational plan; the plans share concepts, infrastructure, and techniques. Extensive curriculum development will be performed, including the creation of three courses that constitute a new area of study in Environmental Fluid Mechanics, with an emphasis on dispersion processes in natural systems and physical-biological interactions. The curriculum development will be enhanced by dedicated teaching facilities in the proposed laboratory. A teaching flume that parallels the research facility will be incorporated as a central feature of undergraduate and graduate fluid mechanics courses. Finally, the laser-induced fluorescence flow visualization techniques that are used quantitatively in the research project will be adapted for both qualitative and quantitative use in the educational component. The visual techniques provide extraordinary insight into both basic fluid motion as well as the complex turbulent fluid processes that produce dispersion of contaminants (e.g. gametes, nutrients, toxins). The technique will be incorporated as an interactive feature on the teaching flume. The technique will also be used to produce studio-quality digital movies of fluid mechanics phenomena for inclusion in a NSF-sponsored Multi-Media Fluid Mechanics CD-ROM series (intended for undergraduate education), and the on-line TeachEngineering Digital Library (intended for K-12 education). The foregoing activities will advance knowledge and understanding of fluid mechanics both within the field, and at interdisciplinary levels. Within fluid mechanics, the processes that govern stirring and mixing of multiple scalars are still poorly understood. The research will investigate stirring processes that are common to all turbulent flows. An understanding of the mixing and transport of contaminants is becoming a priority in a world that, increasingly, sees dispersive chemicals used as weapons. This program will have broad impacts through synergistic blending of sophisticated research techniques as effective visual learning tools, and a supportive combination of research and teaching facilities in an enhanced laboratory. The educational CD-ROM series and on-line Digital Library are both slated for national dissemination. [edited 20 Jan 04, J. Pawlik]