Collaborative Research: IDBR: Multiscale 3-D Observation System for Analysis of Predator-Prey Interactions

将开发一种独特的仪器系统，可以同时表征浮游生物、小鱼和周围流体在复杂的生物和流体动力学环境中的运动。该系统将在跨越5个数量级（从10厘米到1微米）的连续空间尺度范围内量化生物体和流体的三维运动，从而能够同时表征小鱼、浮游动物、浮游植物或原生动物（三种营养水平的物种）的详细行为。该系统还具有低至0.5 ms的高时间分辨率，能够观察快速发生的流体事件和行为反应。两种最先进的测速技术将被集成以解决大范围的空间尺度。全息测速将量化生物体、显微附属物和周围流体的小规模运动（尺度为1-100微米）。同时，层析测速仪将捕获和量化一个或多个生物体周围更大尺度（300微米- 10厘米）的运动。该系统将在鱼类和浮游生物不敏感的光谱范围（近红外）内工作，因此测量系统不会影响或偏向它们的行为。从拟议的仪器获得的测量结果将在空间和时间领域提供前所未有的定量观测能力。该仪器将允许在现实环境中同时研究鱼类、浮游动物、纤毛虫、鞭毛虫和细菌之间的捕食者-猎物相互作用。因此，由这样一个系统捕获的数据将为改变对水生环境中相互作用行为的理解提供机会。因此，该系统将使人们对海洋和淡水水体中生产力和生物量变化背后的原因有新的认识。三名研究生和多名本科生将直接参与研究。此外，项目负责人将与一所有大量印第安人的学校的小学教师和学生合作，在了解当地淡水环境中浮游生物、鲦鱼和小鱼的数量的基础上开发互动项目。作为这些项目的一部分，该仪器系统将用于生成电影，揭示单个物种的详细运动，它们彼此之间以及与周围水流的相互作用。制作出来的影片将在当地网站以及efluids.com和youtube.com上发布。完整的系统将提供给来访的科学家，用于研究流体动力学对生物之间行为和生态相互作用的影响。此外，根据这项研究的结果，PI将维护一个网页，其中包含生物研究人员开发和操作此类系统的详细计划和建议。

A unique instrumentation system will be developed that will allow simultaneous characterization of the motion of plankton, small fish, and the surrounding fluid within a complex interweaving biological and hydrodynamic environment. The system will quantify evolving three-dimensional motion of organisms and fluid over a continuous range of spatial scales spanning five orders of magnitude (from 10 centimeters down to a micron) thus enabling the simultaneous characterization of detailed behavior of small fish, zooplankton, and phytoplankton or protozoa (species of three trophic levels). The system will also have high temporal resolution down to 0.5 ms enabling the observation of rapidly occurring flow events and behavioral reactions. Two state-of-the-art velocimetry techniques will be integrated to resolve the wide range of spatial scales. Holographic velocimetry will quantify small-scale motion of organisms, microscopic appendages, and the surrounding fluid (scales 1-100 micrometer). Simultaneously, tomographic velocimetry will capture and quantify larger scales (300 micrometer- 10 cm) of motion in the volume surrounding one or multiple organisms. The system will operate in a spectral range (near-infrared) to which fish and plankton are insensitive so that the measurement system will not affect or bias their behavior. The measurements obtained from the proposed instrument would provide unprecedented quantitative observational capabilities in both spatial and temporal domains. The instrumentation will permit the study of predator-prey interactions among fish, zooplankton, ciliates, dinoflagellates, and bacteria simultaneously within realistic environments. Therefore the data captured by such a system will provide opportunities to transform understanding of interactive behavior in aquatic environments. Hence, the system will lead to new understanding of the reasons behind variations in productivity and biomass in the sea and in freshwater bodies. Three graduate students and multiple undergraduates will be directly involved in the research. Also, the PI's will work with elementary school teachers and students at a school with significant Native American population to develop interactive projects based on understanding populations of plankton, minnows, and small fish in local freshwater environments. As part of these projects, the instrumentation system will be used to generate movies revealing detailed motion of individual species, their interactions with one another and with the surrounding flow. The resulting movies will be posted on a local website as well as on efluids.com and youtube.com. The completed system will be available to visiting scientists for studies of the effects of hydrodynamics on behavioral and ecological interactions between organisms. Also, based on the results of this study, the PI's will maintain a web page containing a detailed plan and recommendations for development and operation of such systems by biological researchers.