MRI-R2: Acquisition of a Laboratory Research and Teaching Flume for Estuarine Sediment Bed and Ecological Research and Education

“这项奖励是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。”该奖项将资助获得一个5米长的Armfield实验室研究和教学水槽，具有沉积物再循环和波浪制造功能。该水槽将用于估计Caloosahatchee河及其周围水道中各种生物介导的底栖生物栖息地中沉积物的临界剪切应力。水槽还将用于测量大型藻类的附着力和它们在水流中的阻力。这些信息将有助于建立大型藻类运输和扩散的数值模型。由于需要了解在佛罗里达海滩上产生大型藻华的机制和过程，大型藻的动态目前引起了极大的兴趣。进一步的应用将是研究淡水流入和沉积物在牡蛎礁、珊瑚礁和海草树冠上及其周围的影响，海洋生物的生物力学和埋藏学（随着时间的推移对生物腐烂的研究）实验。

"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."This award will fund the acquisition of a 5 meter Armfield Laboratory Research and Teaching Flume with sediment recirculation and wave making features. The flume will be used to estimate the critical shear stresses of sediment in the variety of biomediated benthic habitats in the Caloosahatchee R. and surrounding waterways. The flume will also be used to measure macroalgal attachment forces and their drag force in a current. This information will help develop a numerical model of transport and dispersal of macroalgae. The dynamics of macroalgae are currently of great interest because of the need to understand the mechanisms and processes that are creating large macroalgal blooms on the beaches in Florida. Further applications will be to investigate the effects of freshwater inflows and sediment flow over and around oyster reefs, coral reefs and seagrass canopies, biomechanics of marine organisms and taphonomic (study of decaying organisms over time) experiments.