We propose to develop a variable flow sea water flume and high-speed video imaging system for studies of feeding, dispersal and locomotion in moving fluids. A sea water flume and video system in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology will assist the research/education programs of the Marine Ecology group (Bertness and Witman) and the Vertebrate Morphology group (Goslow and Swartz). Water flow plays an important role in mediating ecological interactions. The specifics of this mediation are largely unknown, however, and their elucidation remain a major research focus of Bertness,Witman, and their students. A sea water flume with variable water flow rate and volume and a means for documenting rapidly occurring biological response will enable studies of the effects of internal waves, variable food supply and temperature on populations of suspension-feeding invertebrate animals. The system will also facilitate studies of the way(s) marine predators respond to increasing water flow under controlled conditions. Vertebrate animals are also affected by their physical environment which is reflected in body shape and locomotor style. The mechanisms by which morphology is shaped by physical parameters is the focus of the research programs of Goslow, Swartz and their students. For example, a group of seabirds, the 'wing-propelled' divers, use their wings to 'fly' underwater as well as in the air; an ability which necessitates some evolutionary compromises for one if not both media. Among fishes and marine mammals, considerable diversity of body form, fin shape, bone structure and locomotor pattern exists which can only be understood by careful manipulative studies. A flume with controlled flow characteristics which is instrumented to monitor the water column and the locomotor movements of the organisms under investigation will provide a focus for training students in modern manipulative studies designed to determine the evolution of complex forms.
