IDR: Olfactory processing of flow and odor structure within a turbulent plume

许多陆生和水生生物利用它们的嗅觉来定位食物，识别配偶，并通过追踪分散在湍流羽流中的气味来找到合适的栖息地。对化学羽流的测量表明，气味浓度呈丝状分布，而羽流的瞬时时空结构很大程度上取决于湍流风或水流场。这些气味信号被在羽毛中航行的动物的嗅觉器官采样，并可能提供有关气味来源位置的信息。化学检测和跟踪行为不仅在生态学上很重要，而且可以为人工传感器的设计提供见解。许多动物（昆虫、甲壳类动物等）利用包含成排化学和/或化学机械感受器（美学）的附属物（触角或触角）主动取样充满气味的液体。克氏原螯虾（Procambarus clarkii）将作为模型系统，详细分析流场效应和气味暴露对神经反应的影响。结合粒子成像测速（PIV）和平面激光诱导荧光（PLIF）系统将同时测量在11米长的循环水槽内形成的大规模羽流中的流体结构和气味浓度。这些信息将有助于在一个特殊设计的微流室中重建天线周围的详细流动和气味动态以及个人美学。脑神经元对沿触角触角传感器阵列的不同区域的气味的电反应将决定空间和时间动力学如何调节气味输入的中央处理，以及在多大程度上对触角触角的一个区域的水动力输入可能会改变对在单独位置检测到的气味的中央反应。这种动物很容易接触到机械和气味探测感觉器，并且在监测过程中能够使触角-大脑准备保持存活数小时，这使得这种动物成为嗅觉处理电生理研究的理想选择。这项工作将得到理论和数值分析以及比例模型实验的支持，以确定轻弹运动和触角形态如何影响小龙虾触角对对流扩散传输和气味的物理化学捕获。该跨学科团队拥有光流测量技术，实验和计算流体力学以及感觉和单细胞神经生理学的专业知识，将研究生活在水生和陆地环境中的所有动物的化学羽流结构和感觉生态之间的复杂相互作用。在这项研究中，pi将组织一个关于生物和工程中的传感器和传感的国际研讨会，将研究结果整合到共同pi教授的研究生和本科课程中，并将其整合到弗吉尼亚大学现有的nsf资助的教育计划中，该计划旨在使用特别设计的工程教学工具包（ETK）向中学生介绍科学和工程概念和原理。最后，pi将与一个跨学科的高年级团队一起开发一个智力无障碍、基于传感器的ETK，目标是女性、少数民族和弱势儿童。这项研究是由BIO理事会共同资助的。

0933034ReidenbachMany terrestrial and aquatic organisms use their sense of smell to locate food, identify mates, and find suitable habitats by tracking odors dispersed within a turbulent plume. Measurements of chemical plumes show that odorant concentrations are filamentous and the instantaneous spatial and temporal structure of a plume greatly depends upon the turbulent wind or water flow field. These odor signals are sampled by the olfactory organs of animals navigating in a plume and presumably provide information about the odor source location. Chemical detection and tracking behavior is not only important ecologically, but can also provide insight into the design of artificial sensors. Many animals (insects, crustaceans, etc.) actively sample odor-laden fluid using appendages (antennae or antennules) that contain rows of chemo- and/or chemo-mechano sensilla (aesthetascs). The crayfish, Procambarus clarkii, will act as a model system for the detailed analysis of flow field effects and odorant exposure on neural responses. A combined particle imaging velocimetry (PIV) and planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) system will measure simultaneous fluid structure and odor concentrations within a large scale plume, created within an 11 m long recirculating flume. This information will then aid recreation of the detailed flow and odor dynamics surrounding an antennule and individual aesthetascs within a specially designed micro-flow chamber. Electrical responses of brain neurons to odors restricted to different regions along the antennule sensor array will determine how spatial and temporal dynamics may regulate central processing of odor input, and the extent to which hydrodynamic inputs to one region of the antennule may modify the central response to odors detected at a separate location. The ease of access to the mechano- and odor-detecting sensilla, and the ability to keep the antennule-brain preparation alive for many hours during monitoring, make this animal ideal for electrophysiological investigation of olfactory processing. This work will be supported by theoretical and numerical analysis, as well as scaled model experiments to determine how flicking kinematics and antennule morphology affect convective-diffusive transport, and physical-chemical capture of odors by crayfish antennules. The interdisciplinary team with expertise in optical flow measurement techniques, experimental and computational fluid mechanics and sensory and single-cell neurophysiology will study the complex interaction between chemical plume structure and sensory ecology of all animals living in aquatic and terrestrial environments. During this study the PIs will organize an international symposium on Sensors and Sensing in Biology and Engineering, integrating the results into graduate and undergraduate courses taught by the co-PIs and to an existing NSF-funded education initiative at UVa aimed at introducing science and engineering concepts and principles to children in the middle schools using especially designed Engineering Teaching Kits (ETK). Finally, the PIs will develop an intellectually accessible, sensors-based ETK with an interdisciplinary senior year team, aimed at female, minority and disadvantaged children.This research is cofunded by the BIO Directorate.