An information-theoretic study of fish swimming in the wake of a pitching airfoil

PHYSICA D-NONLINEAR PHENOMENA

卷:396

Article

Zhang, Peng¹  Krasner, Elizabeth¹  Peterson, Sean D.^1,2  Porfiri, Maurizio^1,3 

[1] NYU, Tandon Sch Engn, Dept Mech & Aerosp Engn, 6 MetroTech Ctr, Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA

[2] Univ Waterloo, Mech & Mechatron Engn, 200 Univ Ave West, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada

[3] NYU, Tandon Sch Engn, Dept Biomed Engn, 6 MetroTech Ctr, Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA

关键词: Fish schooling;    Hydrodynamics;    Information theory;    Time series;    Transfer entropy;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.physd.2019.02.014

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Swimming in schools affords several advantages for fish, including enhanced ability to escape from predators, searching for food, and finding correct migratory routes. However, the role of hydrodynamics in coordinated swimming is still not fully understood due to a lack of data-driven approaches to disentangle causes from effects. In an effort to elucidate the mechanisms underlying fish schooling, we propose an empirical study that integrates information theory and experimental biology. We studied the interactions between an actively pitching airfoil and a fish swimming in a flow. The pitching frequency of the airfoil was varied randomly over time, eliciting an information-rich interaction between the airfoil and the fish. Within an information-theoretic framework, we examined the information content of fish tail beating and information transfer from the airfoil to the fish. The proposed framework may help improve our understanding of the role of hydrodynamics in fish swimming, thereby supporting hypothesis-driven studies on the hydrodynamic advantages of fish schooling. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free