Hokusai's Wave print illustrates the type of flow conditions that larvae might experience.

Microscopic larvae experience different flow environments as they disperse through turbulence-dominated coastal embayments and wave-dominated regions of the continental shelf. Turbulence and waves generate distinct small-scale flows. Snail larvae may use these contrasting flow regimes as signals to change their behavior (swim vs. sink), potentially improving their odds of being transported or settling into good adult habitats.

Heidi Fuchs (IMCS), Greg Gerbi (University of Maine), and Javier Diez (Rutgers Engineering) received NSF funding to study whether marine snail larvae from different habitats can detect and respond to flow characteristics associated with turbulence and waves. The $645K grant brings together scientists with expertise in plankton ecology, physical oceanography, and mechanical engineering. The four-year project will involve laboratory experiments using infrared particle-image velocimetry to observe larval behavior and small-scale physics simultaneously. Data will be used to model larval behavior as a function of small-scale flows and to test hypotheses about physical and ecological controls on larval behavior. Results will provide insights into behavioral evolution and resilience of marine populations faced with a changing marine environment.

Mugshot of a snail larva (~1 mm long)