Search for: All records

Even casual observations of a crow in flight or a shark swimming demonstrate that animal propulsive structures bend in patterned sequences during movement. Detailed engineering studies using controlled models in combination with analysis of flows left in the wakes of moving animals or objects have largely confirmed that flexibility can confer speed and efficiency advantages. These studies have generally focused on the material properties of propulsive structures (propulsors). However, recent developments provide a different perspective on the operation of nature's flexible propulsors, which we consider in this Commentary. First, we discuss how comparative animal mechanics have demonstrated that natural propulsors constructed with very different material properties bend with remarkably similar kinematic patterns. This suggests that ordering principles beyond basic material properties govern natural propulsor bending. Second, we consider advances in hydrodynamic measurements demonstrating suction forces that dramatically enhance overall thrust produced by natural bending patterns. This is a previously unrecognized source of thrust production at bending surfaces that may dominate total thrust production. Together, these advances provide a new mechanistic perspective on bending by animal propulsors operating in fluids – either water or air. This shift in perspective offers new opportunities for understanding animal motion as well as new avenues for investigation into engineered designs of vehicles operating in fluids.

 

Fish typically swim by periodic bending of their bodies. Bending seems to follow a universal rule; it occurs at about one-third from the posterior end of the fish body with a maximum bending angle of about $30^{\circ }$ . However, the hydrodynamic mechanisms that shaped this convergent design and its potential benefit to fish in terms of swimming speed and efficiency are not well understood. It is also unclear to what extent this bending is active or follows passively from the interaction of a flexible posterior with the fluid environment. Here, we use a self-propelled two-link model, with fluid–structure interactions described in the context of the vortex sheet method, to analyse the effects of both active and passive body bending on the swimming performance. We find that passive bending is more efficient but could reduce swimming speed compared with rigid flapping, but the addition of active bending could enhance both speed and efficiency. Importantly, we find that the phase difference between the posterior and anterior sections of the body is an important kinematic factor that influences performance, and that active antiphase flexion, consistent with the passive flexion phase, can simultaneously enhance speed and efficiency in a region of the design space that overlaps with biological observations. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that fish that actively bend their bodies in a fashion that exploits passive hydrodynamics can at once improve speed and efficiency. 

Fish schools are ubiquitous in marine life. Although flow interactions are thought to be beneficial for schooling, their exact effects on the speed, energetics and stability of the group remain elusive. Recent numerical simulations and experimental models suggest that flow interactions stabilize in-tandem formations of flapping foils. Here, we employ a minimal vortex sheet model that captures salient features of the flow interactions among flapping swimmers, and we study the free swimming of a pair of in-line swimmers driven with identical heaving or pitching motions. We find that, independent of the flapping mode, heaving or pitching, the follower passively stabilizes at discrete locations in the wake of the leader, consistent with the heaving foil experiments, but pitching swimmers exhibit tighter and more cohesive formations. Further, in comparison to swimming alone, pitching motions increase the energetic efficiency of the group while heaving motions result in a slight increase in the swimming speed. A deeper analysis of the wake of a single swimmer sheds light on the hydrodynamic mechanisms underlying pairwise formations. These results recapitulate that flow interactions provide a passive mechanism that promotes school cohesion, and afford novel insights into the role of the flapping mode in controlling the emergent properties of the school. 

Nutrient acquisition is crucial for oceanic microbes, and competitive solutions to solve this challenge have evolved among a range of unicellular protists. However, solitary solutions are not the only approach found in natural populations. A diverse array of oceanic protists form temporary or even long-lasting attachments to other protists and marine aggregates. Do these planktonic consortia provide benefits to their members? Here, we use empirical and modeling approaches to evaluate whether the relationship between a large centric diatom, Coscinodiscus wailesii , and a ciliate epibiont, Pseudovorticella coscinodisci , provides nutrient flux benefits to the host diatom. We find that fluid flows generated by ciliary beating can increase nutrient flux to a diatom cell surface four to 10 times that of a still cell without ciliate epibionts. This cosmopolitan species of diatom does not form consortia in all environments but frequently joins such consortia in nutrient-depleted waters. Our results demonstrate that symbiotic consortia provide a cooperative alternative of comparable or greater magnitude to sinking for enhancement of nutrient acquisition in challenging environments. 

Beating flagella exhibit a variety of synchronization modes. This synchrony has long been attributed to hydrodynamic coupling between the flagella. However, recent work with flagellated algae indicates that a mechanism internal to the cell, through the contractile fibres connecting the flagella basal bodies, must be at play to actively modulate flagellar synchrony. Exactly how basal coupling mediates flagellar coordination remains unclear. Here, we examine the role of basal coupling in the synchronization of the model biflagellate Chlamydomonas reinhardtii using a series of mathematical models of decreasing levels of complexity. We report that basal coupling is sufficient to achieve inphase, antiphase and bistable synchrony, even in the absence of hydrodynamic coupling and flagellar compliance. These modes can be reached by modulating the activity level of the individual flagella or the strength of the basal coupling. We observe a slip mode when allowing for differential flagellar activity, just as in experiments with live cells. We introduce a dimensionless ratio of flagellar activity to basal coupling that is predictive of the mode of synchrony. This ratio allows us to query biological parameters which are not yet directly measurable experimentally. Our work shows a concrete route for cells to actively control the synchronization of their flagella. 

Synopsis Metachronal motion is used across a wide range of organisms for a diverse set of functions. However, despite its ubiquity, analysis of this behavior has been difficult to generalize across systems. Here we provide an overview of known commonalities and differences between systems that use metachrony to generate fluid flow. We also discuss strategies for standardizing terminology and defining future investigative directions that are analogous to other established subfields of biomechanics. Finally, we outline key challenges that are common to many metachronal systems, opportunities that have arisen due to the advent of new technology (both experimental and computational), and next steps for community development and collaboration across the nascent network of metachronal researchers. 

The flexibility of biological propulsors such as wings and fins is believed to contribute to the higher performance of flying and swimming animals compared with their engineered peers. Flexibility seems to follow a universal design rule that induces bending patterns at about one-third from the distal tip of the propulsor’s span. However, the aerodynamic mechanisms that shaped this convergent design and the potential improvement in performance are not well understood. Here, we analyse the effect of heterogeneous flexibility on the flight performance (range and descent angle) of passively tumbling wings. Using experiments, numerical simulations, and scaling analysis, we demonstrate that spanwise tip flexibility that follows this empirical rule leads to improved flight performance. Improvement in flight range seems to be related to flutter-induced drag reduction. This mechanism is independent of the wing’s auto-rotation and represents a more general trait of wings with non-uniform tip flexibility.