Flow-mediated responses to environmental change in suspension feeding animals.
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Hull
Department Name: Biological Sciences
Abstract
Suspension feeding animas are ubiquitous in aquatic habitats and exert major effects on aquatic ecosystems. This interdisciplinary project will use hydrodynamic theory as an explanatory tool to predict how organism size and the physical properties of water, such as temperature, may influence feeding by this key functional group in situations not addressed by current theory. The project involves integrating both experiment and modelling at the interface between ecology, engineering, and physics. Suspension feeding represents convergence in feeding structures and mode on a massive scale across almost all phyla, convergence that we are currently unable to explain because we lack knowledge of the basic physics involved in the feeding process.
Organisations
Publications
Beveridge OS
(2010)
The interacting effects of temperature and food chain length on trophic abundance and ecosystem function.
in The Journal of animal ecology
Humphries S
(2009)
Filter feeders and plankton increase particle encounter rates through flow regime control.
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Mossman J
(2009)
SPERM MORPHOLOGY AND VELOCITY ARE GENETICALLY CODETERMINED IN THE ZEBRA FINCH
in Evolution
Mossman J
(2009)
Sperm morphology and velocity are genetically codetermined in the zebra finch.
in Evolution; international journal of organic evolution
Wyatt A
(2010)
Particulate nutrient fluxes over a fringing coral reef: relevant scales of phytoplankton production and mechanisms of supply
in Marine Ecology Progress Series
| Description | Suspension feeding animals are ubiquitous in aquatic habitats, and exert major effects on marine ecosystems through their impact on plankton populations. This interdisciplinary project used hydrodynamic theory as an explanatory tool to predict how changes in the physical properties of water, such as temperature, may influence feeding by this key functional group. Suspension feeding represents convergence in feeding structures and mode on a massive scale across almost all phyla, convergence that we are currently unable to explain because we lack knowledge of the basic physics involved in the feeding process. I have been able to show that a fluid dynamic regime (intermediate Reynolds number) largely ignored by engineers is both beneficial to, and used by, suspension feeders and plankton. |
| Exploitation Route | No PTI required at submission. Some of the theory developed has the potential to be used in biomimetic design of filters. |
| Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology |