Scale-dependent colocalization in a population of gyrotactic swimmers

We study the small scale clustering of gyrotactic swimmers transported by a turbulent flow, when the intrinsic variability of the swimming parameters within the population is considered. By means of extensive numerical simulations, we find that the variety of the population introduces a characterist...

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Veröffentlicht in:Physical review. E 2017-02, Vol.95 (2-1), p.023108-023108, Article 023108
Hauptverfasser: Borgnino, M, De Lillo, F, Boffetta, G
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:We study the small scale clustering of gyrotactic swimmers transported by a turbulent flow, when the intrinsic variability of the swimming parameters within the population is considered. By means of extensive numerical simulations, we find that the variety of the population introduces a characteristic scale R^{*} in its spatial distribution. At scales smaller than R^{*} the swimmers are homogeneously distributed, while at larger scales an inhomogeneous distribution is observed with a fractal dimension close to what observed for a monodisperse population characterized by mean parameters. The scale R^{*} depends on the dispersion of the population and it is found to scale linearly with the standard deviation both for a bimodal and for a Gaussian distribution. Our numerical results, which extend recent findings for a monodisperse population, indicate that in principle it is possible to observe small scale, fractal clustering in a laboratory experiment with gyrotactic cells.
ISSN:2470-0045
2470-0053
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevE.95.023108