Lovecchio, S., Climent, E., Stocker, R. et al. (1 more author) (2019) Chain formation can enhance the vertical migration of phytoplankton through turbulence. Science Advances, 5 (10). eaaw7879. ISSN 2375-2548
Abstract
Many species of motile phytoplankton can actively form long multicellular chains by remaining attached to one another after cell division. While chains swim more rapidly than single cells of the same species, chain formation also dramatically reduces phytoplankton’s ability to maintain their bearing. This suggests that turbulence, which acts to randomize swimming direction, could sharply attenuate a chain’s ability to migrate between well-lit surface waters during the day and deeper nutrient rich waters at night. Here we use numerical models to investigate how chain formation affects the migration of phytoplankton through a turbulent water column. Unexpectedly, we find that the elongated shape of chains helps them travel through weak to moderate turbulence much more effectively than single cells and isolate the physical processes that confer chains this ability. Our findings provide a new mechanistic understanding of how turbulence can select for phytoplankton with elongated morphologies and may help explain why turbulence triggers chain formation.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license, (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Physics and Astronomy (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) BB/R018383/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 23 Jul 2019 12:57 |
Last Modified: | 03 Dec 2019 11:55 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Association for the Advancement of Science |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1126/sciadv.aaw7879 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:148379 |