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Directional Hydrodynamic Sensing by Free-Swimming Organisms

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Abstract

Many aquatic organisms detect the presence of moving objects in their environment, such as predators, by sensing the hydrodynamic disturbances the movements produce. The resultant water flow is readily detectable by stationary organisms, but free-swimming organisms are carried with the surrounding water and may not detect the bulk surrounding flow, which limits the available information about the source. We have developed a theory that clarifies what information is contained in disturbances generated by an attacking predator that is available to a free-swimming organism and might be extracted from local flow deformations alone. The theory shows that, depending on how well the deformations can be measured in space and time, an organism can reduce the range of possible locations, speeds, sizes, and arrival times of the predator. We apply the theory to planktonic copepods that have mechanosensory hairs along a pair of antennules. The study reveals the presence of “blind spots,” potential ambiguities in resolving from which of two sides a predator attacks, and whether it generates a bow wave or suction. Our findings lead to specific testable hypotheses concerning optimal escape strategies, which are helpful for interpreting the behavior of evasive prey and designing free-swimming robots with sensory capabilities.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Drs. Petra Lenz and Ann Castelfranco for valuable discussions and critical reading of an earlier version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2565 McCarthy Mall, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Daisuke Takagi

  2. Békésy Laboratory of Neurobiology, Pacific Biosciences Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1993 East West Road, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Daniel K. Hartline

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  1. Daisuke Takagi
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  2. Daniel K. Hartline
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Correspondence to Daisuke Takagi.

Additional information

We acknowledge support by US ARO Grant W911NF-15-1-0608 awarded from Dr. Virginia Pasour to DT and NSF Grants CBET-1603929 to DT and OCE-1235549 to P. Lenz.

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Takagi, D., Hartline, D.K. Directional Hydrodynamic Sensing by Free-Swimming Organisms. Bull Math Biol 80, 215–227 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11538-017-0368-0

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