Concepts of underwater experimentation

Summary 1. Recent advances in underwater research are reviewed and critically discussed. New technologies include deep-sea diving apparatus, saturation diving from underwater habitats, submersibles and remote-controlled vehicles. The fields of application include increasingly ecology and animal behaviour.2. The term underwater experimentation is defined and examples provided to illustrate pertinent research.3. Underwater experimentation is compared to laboratory experimentation. The latter is restricted to a limited set of suitable organisms, which are subjected to controlled but frequently quite artificial conditions. Furthermore, only systems of a very low degree of complexity can be studied in the laboratory. Underwater experimentation is limited by the restricted performance of man under in situ conditions. Automatisation of experimental units and use of remote-controlled vehicles are proposed to enhance man's underwater capacity.4. The need for the design of underwater experiments, especially for system analysis, is emphasized. There is an increasing demand for predictive models to anticipate the potential impacts of civilisation on the marine environment.

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Konzepte der Unterwasser-Experimentation

Kurzfassung In den letzten zehn Jahren sind Unterwasseruntersuchungen zu einem nicht mehr wegzudenkenden und wichtigen Bestandteil marinbiologischer Forschungen geworden. Die technische Entwicklung dieser methodologisch definierten Disziplin führte vom Schwimm- und Gerätetauchen zu Tauchbooten, Unterwasserhäusern und ferngesteuerten Fahrzeugen. Die Anwendungsbereiche umfassen Beobachtung und Aufsammlung bis zur genauen Messung und Probennahme für ökologische Untersuchungen. Echte experimentelle Arbeit wird jedoch noch immer fast ausschließlich im Laboratorium durchgeführt. Daher ist Experimentation noch immer auf eine begrenzte Auswahl an haltbaren Organismen, eine begrenzte Zahl simulierbarer und kontrollierbarer Faktoren und insbesonders an einen begrenzten Komplexitätsgrad der Untersuchungsobjekte gebunden. Dies ist um so bedauerlicher, als sich in der Ökologie immer deutlicher die Notwendigkeit von Systemanalysen abzeichnet. Der gegenwärtige Standard in Unterwasserbeobachtung und Datengewinnung und die Entwicklung von Multivariatentechniken macht es möglich, die kontrollierten Bedingungen im Laboratorium — die zu oft eine gefährliche Vereinfachung sind — durch die gemessenen Bedingungen in situ zu ersetzen. Die Dringlichkeit experimenteller Arbeit an ökologischen Systemen kann nicht genug betont werden in einer Zeit, in der wir versuchen müssen, mit den Einflüssen unserer Zivilisation auf die natürlichen Lebensräume fertigzuwerden, Voraussagen treffen und Modelle entwickeln zu können.

     

Ultra-fast underwater suction traps

Carnivorous aquatic Utricularia species catch small prey animals using millimetre-sized underwater suction traps, which have fascinated scientists since Darwin's early work on carnivorous plants. Suction takes place after mechanical triggering and is owing to a release of stored elastic energy in the trap body accompanied by a very fast opening and closing of a trapdoor, which otherwise closes the trap entrance watertight. The exceptional trapping speed--far above human visual perception--impeded profound investigations until now. Using high-speed video imaging and special microscopy techniques, we obtained fully time-resolved recordings of the door movement. We found that this unique trapping mechanism conducts suction in less than a millisecond and therefore ranks among the fastest plant movements known. Fluid acceleration reaches very high values, leaving little chance for prey animals to escape. We discovered that the door deformation is morphologically predetermined, and actually performs a buckling/unbuckling process, including a complete trapdoor curvature inversion. This process, which we predict using dynamical simulations and simple theoretical models, is highly reproducible: the traps are autonomously repetitive as they fire spontaneously after 5-20 h and reset actively to their ready-to-catch condition.     

Crocodiles don't focus underwater

Summary Crocodilians are amphibious reptiles which hunt prey both on land and in water. Previous refractive and anatomical studies have suggested that their eyes can focus objects in air and that their ability to refocus the eye underwater may be limited. Examination of the plane of focus of six species of crocodilians both in air and underwater has revealed that they are generally well focused in air for distant targets and severely defocused underwater. These results suggest that sensory systems other than vision must play an important role in prey capture underwater.Abbreviation D diopter     

Making scents of sex underwater

Sex and scents have long been associated. Musk, for example, is a sexual scent that has been used for many years in the perfume industry. In humans, the debate on the existence of sex pheromones continues, whereas in insects their role is well known. Through recent research, we are discovering that such chemicals are equally important in conveying sexual signals between aquatic animals.     

An odometre for underwater transects

A simple device for the measurement of length (or area) along an underwater transect is described. This instrument is pushed or pulled by SCUBA divers along lake or river bottoms and the rotation of a paddle wheel is recorded on a digital counter. The device eliminates the need for straight line and smooth bottom transects, and allows for greater versatility than that provided by the more usual rope line transect.     

SCUM--simulation of cyanobacterial underwater movement

This paper describes the initial development of a computer simulationmodel of the vertical and lateral movement of a cyanobacterialbloom. Cyanobacteria actively regulate their position verticallywithin a water column by changing their buoyancy state in responseto changing photosynthetic rates. Additionally the cyanobacteriaare liable to lateral movement due to wind-induced currentsand turbulence in the surface layers. The model may be appliedto a range of water-bodies under different wind environments.Initial results predict that periods of severe lake mixing encouragesoverbuoyancy in Microcystis, resulting in the rapid formationof surface scums. Oscillatoria respond slower to changes innear-surface mixing and are liable to become entrained quicklywithin weak and turbulent currents. The model results agreewell with published field studies.     

A size selective underwater light trap

A size selective underwater light trap is described. Trap records indicate that the trap is effective in taking a wide variety of organisms within size limits that can be set by the experimenter.     

Source localization in underwater sound fields

We investigated the acoustical information present in the field of arbitrary sound sources which may provide direction and distance to the source from a local reading of the sound field parameters. If the effects of reflections are negligible, the particle acceleration is directed radially at the instant of sound pressure nulls. The spectral relation between the radial component of the particle aceleration and the sound pressure is characterized by a critical frequency where a sharp transition occurs in the amplitude ratio and the phase relation of these variables. The critical frequency depends on the distance to the source and depends little on the source type (mono-, di- or quadrupole). Thus, a local reading of the particle acceleration and the sound pressure is in principle sufficient to localize the sound source in three dimensions. Fish might use this kind of information for acoustic orientation.     

Operation of a cheap underwater house

Summary 1. Two divers have been maintained satisfactorily at a depth of 10,7 m for a week by means of a cheap and simple underwater house.2. The house was unaffected by heavy seas, indicating that underwater houses can be used in exposed sites.3. A simple closed-circuit system of air purification was used for the first time in an underwater house.

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Der Betrieb eines billigen Unterwasserhauses

Kurzfassung Unterwasserhäuser wurden während der letzten Jahre angewendet, um lange Arbeitszeiten im Tiefwasser zu ermöglichen. Sie erwiesen sich aber als sehr kostspielig. Vor kurzem hat eine Gruppe Amateurtaucher ein Unterwasserhaus gebaut und geprüft, um zu beweisen, daß ein längerer Aufenthalt unter Wasser möglich und zudem nicht kostspielig ist. Das Haus (GLAUCUS), ein zylindrischer Stahlbau von 3,5 m Länge und 2 m Durchmesser, blieb während einer Woche mit zwei Mann Besatzung in einer Wassertiefe von 10,7 m (35 Fuß). Es hatte eine Lukenöffnung an der Unterseite und konnte zum Ablassen oder zur Dekompression nicht abgedichtet werden. Elektrischer Strom wurde durch einen Stromerzeuger an Land geliefert, den eine Oberflächenmannschaft betreute, die auch Mahlzeiten zubereitete und ins Haus brachte. Das Haus besaß ein selbständiges Lüftungskontrollsystem mit einer Mischung von 15 bis 18% O₂ in N₂. Sehr starke Winde hatten die Sicht unter Wasser verringert und die Arbeit erschwert, das Leben im Haus jedoch nicht beeinträchtigt. Am Ende der Woche wurde die Dekompression durch eine Erhöhung des Sauerstoffanteils der Luft vorgenommen. Beim Aufheben des Hauses gab es einige Schwierigkeiten, daher schwamm die Mannschaft nach oben und ließ das Haus für späteres Emporheben zurück. Es wird die Ansicht geäußert, daß die weitere Entwicklung billiger und einfacher Unterwasserhäuser für manche Arbeitsgebiete unter Wasser von großem Wert sein könnte.

     

A microprocessor-based underwater data acquisition system

Summary A microprocessor-based data-acquisition system has been developed to meet the requirements of a range of oceanic sensor inputs. The system described is specially suitable for low-power, long-period underwater applications. Details are given of the hardware and software design, and examples of interface to propeller current sensor and pressure transducer. Preliminary field results in the Northern Great Barrier Reef are described.     

Light as an information carrier underwater

Light is a source of both energy and information for the biota.The spatial, temporal and spectral variability of light experiencedby marine phytoplankton differs significantly from that experiencedby terrestrial plants, due to the selective attenuation of solarirradiance in the aquatic medium. In the present study we analysedsuch variability and focused, in particular, on those bandswithin the spectrum that may act as potential signals for physiologicalresponses. Our results demonstrate that the spectral variationof the light field carries information on the time of day, thevertical position and the presence of very close neighbours,also underwater. This is consistent with the recent findingsof a widespread occurrence of photoreceptors in marine algae.We show also that red photoreceptors, whose presence in marinealgae was difficult to reconcile with the strong attenuationof long wavelengths by water, may be triggered at depth by thered light generated by transpectral processes.