Small-scale flow variability inside branched coral colonies: Computations and experimental verification

珊瑚礁已被确定为全球最受威胁的海洋生态系统之一，其管理严重依赖于科学认识。 珊瑚与周围流体之间的流量控制质量转移在决定珊瑚如何生活，生长，繁殖和死亡方面起着关键作用。 研究人员将创建一个给定珊瑚的综合物理化学模型，即虚拟珊瑚，通过确定质量转移变化驱动的钙化率变化来检查分支珊瑚的形态可塑性。 该模型将包括流动和质量转移的详细表示，给定珊瑚的几何形状，入射到珊瑚上的光场以及珊瑚虫和虫黄藻的内部生物化学。除了检查形态可塑性和流动之间的联系，该模型还应该能够测试有关流动的假设，营养，光照水平或温度的变化，以广泛的反应，包括漂白。 研究人员提出的实验和计算将在单个群体的水平上提供珊瑚的综合模型。该模型将提供一个有价值的手段来测试珊瑚和环境之间的相互作用的假设。

Coral reefs have been identified as some of the most threatened marine ecosystems globally, ones whose management depends critically on scientific understanding. Flow-controlled mass transfer between corals and the fluid around them plays a key role in determining how corals live, grow, reproduce and die. The investigators will create a comprehensive physiochemical model of a given coral, i.e. a virtual coral, to examine the morphological plasticity in branching corals by determining changes in calcification rates driven by changes in mass transfer. The model will include detailed representations of flow and mass transfer, given the geometry of the coral, light field incident on the coral and the internal biochemistry of the polyps and zooxanthellae. Beyond examining the connection between morphological plasticity and flow, the model should also be capable of testing hypotheses relating flow, changes in nutrient, light level, or temperature to a wide range of responses including bleaching. The experiments and computations proposed by the researchers will provide a comprehensive model of corals at the level of an individual colony. The model will provide a valuable means for testing hypotheses on the interactions between corals and their environment.