Christopher M. Finelli
I am interested in how organisms interact with their physical environment. Temperature, solar radiation, water currents, and other aspects of the environment affect all aspects of an organisms morphology, physiology, behavior, and ecology. My emphasis is on making measurements of the physical environment that are relevant to the study organism. This often requires miniturized instruments, or novel approaches to some very fundamental measurements. My research is primarily directed at understanding organism-flow interactions, and is developing along three lines:
Chemical plume transport: Many animals use olfactory cues to locate mates, food, or suitable habitat. Recent advances in chemical sensor technology have allowed us to measure odor distribution at time and space scales similar to natural chemoreceptors. This work has shown that odor plumes are not stable gradients in odor concentration, rather, they are comprised of incompletely mixed odor filaments. My current work in this area focuses on how obstructions to flow (e.g. aquatic vegetation) influence patterns of odor distribution and subsequent animal response. If such obstructions result in odor plume characteristics which enhance or interfere with mate finding or predation, then the presence of such obstructions may help to explain habitat preferences exhibited by many marine animals. Future research will address other types of chemical plumes (nutrients, toxics) and their effects on organisms in their path.
Mass transport around coral reefs: Corals, like other sessile organisms, rely on ambient water currents to supply nutrients and to remove wastes. In some cases, the rate at which important nutrients are exchanged with the overlying water depends on the ability of flow to continually resupply nutrients to the coral surface. I am part of a research team using the Aquarius Undersea Habitat (http://www.uncwil.edu/nurc/aquarius) to study how coral shape and texture interact with water flow to determine these rates of mass transfer. The techniques and concepts applied to understanding coral biology can also be applied to understanding nutrient uptake of algae or other aquatic plants
Suspension feeding: A wide variety of aquatic organisms obtain food by filtering particles from the water column. All of these organisms rely on ambient water flow to deliver food particles to their feeding structures. As such, water flow often determines where an organism can live, how well it can grow, and how it interacts with other organisms. I am trying to understand the effects of flow on particle delivery and on the feeding efficiency of common marine suspension feeders such as barnacles and oysters.
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