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We investigate the effect of cooperative interactions in an ensemble of microorganisms, modelled as self-propelled disk-like and rod-like particles, in a three-dimensional turbulent flow to show flocking as an emergent phenomenon. Building…
The motion of particles suspended in environmental turbulence is relevant to many scientific fields, from sediment transport to biological interactions to underwater robotics. At very small scales and simple shapes, we are able to…
Active fluids such as bacterial swarms, self-propelled colloids, and cell tissues can all display complex spatio-temporal vortices that are reminiscent of inertial turbulence. This emergent behavior despite the overdamped nature of these…
The diffusion of active microscopic organisms in complex environments plays an important role in a wide range of biological phenomena from cell colony growth to single organism transport. Here, we investigate theoretically and…
Microorganisms often encounter strong confinement and complex hydrodynamic flows while navigating their habitats. Combining finite-element methods and stochastic simulations, we study the interplay of active transport and heterogeneous…
One of simplest examples of navigation found in nature is run-and-tumble chemotaxis. Tumbles reorient cells randomly, and cells can drift toward attractants or away from repellents by biasing the frequency of these events. The post-tumble…
Systems of motile microorganisms exhibit a multitude of collective phenomena, including motility-induced phase separation and turbulence. Sensing of the environment and adaptation of movement plays an essential role in the emergent…
Cyclic, nonhierarchical interactions among biological species represent a general mechanism by which ecosystems are able to maintain high levels of biodiversity. However, species coexistence is often possible only in spatially extended…
It has been a long-standing problem how schooling fish optimize their motion by exploiting the vortices shed by the others. A recent experimental study showed that a pair of fish reduce energy consumption by matching the phases of their…
Mesozooplankton aggregations undergoing vertical migrations in the upper ocean have been hypothesized to have an important role in the redistribution of carbon, nutrients, and oxygen via biogenic hydrodynamic transport (BHT). While…
We study the effect of turbulence on marine life by performing numerical simulations of motile microorganisms, modelled as prolate spheroids, in isotropic homogeneous turbulence. We show that the clustering and patchiness observed in…
Recent research has shown that motile cells can adapt their mode of propulsion to the mechanical properties of the environment in which they find themselves--crawling in some environments while swimming in others. The latter can involve…
Unlike coffee and cream that homogenize when stirred, growing micro-organisms (e.g., bacteria, baker's yeast) can actively kill each other and avoid mixing. How do such antagonistic interactions impact the growth and survival of competing…
The interaction of oscillatory wave motion with morphologically complex coral reefs showcases a wide range of consequential hydrodynamic responses within the canopy. While a large body of literature has explored the interaction of…
Plankton constitutes the productive base of aquatic ecosystems and plays an essential role in the global carbon cycle. The impact of hydrodynamic conditions on the biological activity of plankton species can manifest in a variety of…
Sperm swimming at low Reynolds number have strong hydrodynamic interactions when their concentration is high in vivo or near substrates in vitro. The beating tails not only propel the sperm through a fluid, but also create flow fields…
Aims. Qualitative analysis of key (but yet unappreciated) linear phenomena in stratified hydrodynamic Keplerian flows: (i) the occurrence of a vortex mode, as a consequence of strato-rotational balance, with its transient dynamics; (ii) the…
Conjugation accelerates bacterial evolution by enabling bacteria to acquire genes horizontally from their neighbors. Plasmid donors must physically encounter and connect with recipients to allow plasmid transfer, and different environments…
The motility skills of phytoplankton have evolved and persisted over millions of years, primarily in response to factors such as nutrient and light availability, temperature and viscosity gradients, turbulence, and predation pressure.…
Controlling interactions out of thermodynamic equilibrium is crucial for designing addressable and functional self-organizing structures. These active interactions also underpin collective behavior in biological systems. Here we study a…