The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Marine Sciences Faculty Scholarship School of Marine Sciences 8-1-2008 How Plankton Swim: An Interdisciplinary Approach for Using Mathematics & Physics to Understand the Biology of the Natural World T. W. Clay J. B. Fox D. Grunbaum Peter Jumars University of Maine - Main, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/sms_facpub Repository Citation Clay, T. W.; Fox, J. B.; Grunbaum, D.; and Jumars, Peter, "How Plankton Swim: An Interdisciplinary Approach for Using Mathematics & Physics to Understand the Biology of the Natural World" (2008). Marine Sciences Faculty Scholarship. 55. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/sms_facpub/55 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Marine Sciences Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. How Plankton Swim: An Interdisciplinary Approach for Using Mathematics & Physics To Understand the Biology of the Natural World T ANSY W. CLAY JENNIFER B. FOX DANIEL GRÜNBAUM PETER A. JUMARS DJFOUJGJD SFTFBSDIFST Table 1. Overview of Lessons PGUFO4 VTF NBUIFNBUJDT BOE QIZTJDT UP BEESFTT CJPMPHJDBM LESSON PURPOSE RVFTUJPOT)PXFWFS UIFTFEJT 1. Plankton Lab Students gain familiarity with plankton through detailed firsthand DJQMJOFT BSF HFOFSBMMZ QSFTFOU FE BT TFQBSBUF BOE EJTUJODU BU observations. Students are introduced to plankton ecology and the UIF IJHI TDIPPM MFWFM /FBSMZ importance of plankton in a global context. FWFSZ IJHI TDIPPM TUVEFOU JO 2. Plankton Online Students develop intuition about physical factors that influence planktonic "NFSJDBUBLFTCJPMPHZ NBLJOH movement, and hypothesize about how/why plankton move. UIFCJPMPHZDMBTTUIFJEFBMFOWJ SPONFOUUPJOUSPEVDFTUVEFOUT 3. Viscosity and the Students are introduced to the concepts of viscosity and the Reynolds UP UIF SFMBUFE GJFMET PG NBUI Reynolds Number Number (Re). Students build intuition about movement in viscous FNBUJDT BOE QIZTJDT 6TJOH environments. JOUFSEJTDJQMJOBSZBQQSPBDIFTJO UIF CJPMPHZ DMBTTSPPN UFBDI 4. Forces and Marine Life Students explore how surface area and volume scale with organism size, FST DBO FYQPTF NBOZ NPSF and what this means in terms of the relative importance of inertial and IJHI TDIPPM TUVEFOUT UP CPUI viscous forces. UIF OBUVSF PG JOUFSEJTDJQMJOBSZ XPSL BOE UP TVCKFDU BSFBT JO 5. Practice Calculating Students practice calculating the Re of organisms to determine which NBUIFNBUJDTBOEQIZTJDT5IF Reynolds Numbers forces dominate the movements of each. HPBMT BSF TJNJMBS UP UIF ²QIZT JDTGJSTU³BQQSPBDI -FEFSNBO 6. Low Reynolds Number Students summarize, in their own words, their understanding of the JO UIBU TUVEFOUT VTF Conclusion material covered. 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Photographs of plankton. Top row is zooplankton (from left to right), a copepod (Acartia) (photo courtesy of R. Hopcroft), a copepod (Euchaeta) (photo courtesy of J. Yen), and a larval sand dollar (Dendraster) (photo courtesy of T. Clay). Bottom row is phytoplankton (from left to right), Thalassiosira sp Chaetoceros sp, Ceratium fusus (photos courtesy of K. Holtermann). 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