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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Efficient survival strategy for zooplankton in turbulence

N. Mousavi1, J. Qiu1,2, B. Mehlig1, L. Zhao2, and K. Gustavsson1

  • 1Department of Physics, Gothenburg University, SE-40530 Gothenburg, Sweden
  • 2AML, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

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Phys. Rev. Research 6, L022034 – Published 7 May, 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.L022034

Abstract

Zooplankton in a quiescent environment can detect predators by hydrodynamic sensing, triggering powerful escape responses. Since turbulent strain tends to mask the hydrodynamic signal, the organisms should avoid such regions, but it is not known how they accomplish this. We found a simple, robust, and highly efficient strategy that relies on measuring the sign of gradients of squared strain. Plankton following this strategy show very strong spatial clustering, and align against the local flow velocity, facilitating mate finding and feeding. The strategy has the potential to reconcile competing fitness pressures.

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Phys. Rev. Research 6, L022034– Published 7 May, 2024
  • Received 15 September 2023
  • Accepted 2 April 2024
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by Bibsam.

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