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Density differences between water masses preclude laminar flow in two-current choice flumes

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Abstract

Two-current choice flumes are used to measure preference and avoidance behaviour in response to chemical cues in aquatic animals. If used correctly, they produce two parallel, non-overlapping, laminar water currents in which the animal can move freely and choose between the two currents. As climate change is affecting water temperature, and altered precipitation patterns are changing water salinity, two-current choice flumes are increasingly being used to test the choice between water currents of different temperatures and salinities. This inevitably means that water currents of different densities are being used simultaneously in the flume. Here, we investigated the tolerance range for density differences due to temperature and salinity in five common flume designs. Through dye tests and stepwise modifications of temperatures and salinities we determined the limits for laminar and non-overlapping flows. We also developed an automated method for quantifying the overlap precisely and objectively. The tolerance for density differences between the water currents where laminar and non-overlapping flows were maintained was surprisingly low, withstanding  ± 0.5 °C temperature differences, and ± 0.1 PSU salinity differences, i.e. a maximum density difference of 0.28 gL−1. Above these very narrow limits we found a range where the flumes showed partly overlapping, stratified water currents that preclude easy determination of cue preference. We conclude that two-current choice flumes are not suitable for testing the behavioural choices of aquatic animals using water currents of anything other than minor differences in temperature and/or salinity.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to the Laboratori d’Investigacions Marines i Aqüicultura, LIMIA (Balearic Government), member of the joint research unit IMEDEA-LIMIA, for the use of the facilities and its staff for the kind support provided throughout. We would also like to thank Heather Baxter for her help with running some of the experiments at LIMIA and Rocío Santiago Doménech for conducting the salinity measurement validation. This work was funded by the Swedish Research Council Formas (JS: 2013-947, FJ: 2009-596) and The Research Council of Norway (FJ: 262942).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Essex, School of Biological Sciences, Colchester, UK

    Adam Gouraguine

  2. Department of Ecology and Marine Resources, Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain

    Carlos Díaz-Gil

  3. Laboratori d’Investigacions Marines i Aqüicultura (LIMIA), Balearic Government, Port d’Andratx, Spain

    Carlos Díaz-Gil

  4. Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Josefin Sundin & Fredrik Jutfelt

  5. Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO), Centre Oceanogràfic de les Balears, Ecosystem Oceanography Group (GRECO), Palma, Spain

    Joan Moranta

Authors
  1. Adam Gouraguine
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  2. Carlos Díaz-Gil
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  3. Josefin Sundin
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  4. Joan Moranta
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  5. Fredrik Jutfelt
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Contributions

AG, FJ, JS, CDG and JM conceived the idea. AG, JM, FJ, JS conducted the laboratory experiments. CDG and AG analysed the data and created figures and tables. AG, FJ and JS wrote the manuscript. JM and CDG revised the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Adam Gouraguine.

Additional information

Communicated by Joel Trexler.

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Gouraguine, A., Díaz-Gil, C., Sundin, J. et al. Density differences between water masses preclude laminar flow in two-current choice flumes. Oecologia 189, 875–881 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-019-04363-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-019-04363-7

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