Filippov Alexander E, Krings Wencke, Gorb Stanislav N
Department of Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Zoological Institute, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Am Botanischen Garten 1-9, 24118 Kiel, Germany.
Donetsk Institute for Physics and Engineering, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 83114 Donetsk, Ukraine.
Beilstein J Nanotechnol. 2023 May 17;14:603-615. doi: 10.3762/bjnano.14.50. eCollection 2023.
Suspension feeding via setae collecting particles is common within Crustacea. Even though the mechanisms behind it and the structures themselves have been studied for decades, the interplay between the different setae types and the parameters contributing to their particle collecting capacities remain partly enigmatic. Here, we provide a numerical modeling approach to understand the relationship among the mechanical property gradients, the mechanical behavior and the adhesion of setae, and the feeding efficiency of the system. In this context, we set-up a simple dynamic numerical model that takes all of these parameters into account and describes the interaction with food particles and their delivery into the mouth opening. By altering the parameters, it was unraveled that the system performs best when the long and short setae have different mechanical properties and different degrees of adhesion since the long setae generate the feeding current and the short ones establish the contact with the particle. This protocol can be applied to any system in the future as the parameters (i.e., properties and arrangement of particles and setae) can be easily altered. This will shed light on the biomechanical adaptations of these structures to suspension feeding and provide inspiration for biomimetics in the field of filtration technologies.
通过刚毛收集颗粒进行悬浮取食在甲壳纲动物中很常见。尽管其背后的机制和结构本身已经研究了几十年，但不同类型刚毛之间的相互作用以及影响其颗粒收集能力的参数仍部分不明确。在这里，我们提供一种数值建模方法，以了解刚毛的力学性能梯度、力学行为和附着力以及系统取食效率之间的关系。在此背景下，我们建立了一个简单的动态数值模型，该模型考虑了所有这些参数，并描述了与食物颗粒的相互作用以及它们被输送到口部的过程。通过改变参数，我们发现当长刚毛和短刚毛具有不同的力学性能和不同程度的附着力时，系统表现最佳，因为长刚毛产生取食水流，短刚毛与颗粒建立接触。由于参数（即颗粒和刚毛的性质及排列）可以轻松改变，该方案未来可应用于任何系统。这将阐明这些结构对悬浮取食的生物力学适应性，并为过滤技术领域的仿生学提供灵感。
