Centripetal focusing of gyrotactic phytoplankton

DOI10.1016/J.JTBI.2016.03.037zbMATH Open1347.92009OpenAlexW2329699955WikidataQ50671239 ScholiaQ50671239MaRDI QIDQ327205FDOQ327205

Authors: M. Franchino, F. Santamaria, Guido Boffetta, Massimo Cencini 

Publication date: 19 October 2016

Published in: Journal of Theoretical Biology (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: A suspension of gyrotactic microalgae Chlamydomonas augustae swimming in a cylindrical water vessel in solid-body rotation is studied. Our experiments show that swimming algae form an aggregate around the axis of rotation, whose intensity increases with the rotation speed. We explain this phenomenon by the centripetal orientation of the swimming direction towards the axis of rotation. This centripetal focusing is contrasted by diffusive fluxes due to stochastic reorientation of the cells. The competition of the two effects lead to a stationary distribution, which we analytically derive from a refined mathematical model of gyrotactic swimmers. The temporal evolution of the cell distribution, obtained via numerical simulations of the stochastic model, is in quantitative agreement with the experimental measurements in the range of parameters explored.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1511.01255

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zbMATH Keywords

fluid-flow motility interactiongyrotaxismicroorganism motility

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Biomechanics (92C10) Cell movement (chemotaxis, etc.) (92C17) Biopropulsion in water and in air (76Z10)

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Cited In (4)

• Gyrotactic bioconvection at pycnoclines
• Pre-asymptotic dispersion of active particles through a vertical pipe: the origin of hydrodynamic focusing
• Optimal collision avoidance in swarms of active Brownian particles
• Gyrotactic swimmers in turbulence: shape effects and role of the large-scale flow

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