TY - JOUR
T1 - Extreme flow simulations reveal skeletal adaptations of deep-sea sponges
AU - Falcucci, Giacomo
AU - Amati, Giorgio
AU - Fanelli, Pierluigi
AU - Krastev, Vesselin K.
AU - Polverino, Giovanni
AU - Porfiri, Maurizio
AU - Succi, Sauro
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements G.F. acknowledges CINECA computational grant ISCRA-B IsB17– SPONGES, no. HP10B9ZOKQ and, partially, the support of PRIN projects CUP E82F16003010006 (principal investigator, G.F. for the Tor Vergata Research Unit) and CUP E84I19001020006 (principal investigator, G. Bella). G.P. acknowledges the support of the Forrest Research Foundation, under a postdoctoral research fellowship. M.P. acknowledges the support of the National Science Foundation under grant no. CMMI 1901697. S.S. acknowledges financial support from the European Research Council under the Horizon 2020 Programme advanced grant agreement no. 739964 (‘COPMAT’). G.F. and S.S. acknowledge K. Bertoldi, M. C. Fernandes and J. C. Weaver (Harvard University) for introducing them to E. aspergillum and for early discussions on the subject. A. L. Facci (Tuscia University) is acknowledged for discussions on graphics realization. M. Bernaschi (IAC-CNR) is acknowledged for discussions on extreme computing. V. Villani is acknowledged for his support with Japanese language and culture. E. Kaxiras (Harvard University) is acknowledged for early discussions that proved fruitful for the development of the present code.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2021/7/22
Y1 - 2021/7/22
N2 - Since its discovery1,2, the deep-sea glass sponge Euplectella aspergillum has attracted interest in its mechanical properties and beauty. Its skeletal system is composed of amorphous hydrated silica and is arranged in a highly regular and hierarchical cylindrical lattice that begets exceptional flexibility and resilience to damage3–6. Structural analyses dominate the literature, but hydrodynamic fields that surround and penetrate the sponge have remained largely unexplored. Here we address an unanswered question: whether, besides improving its mechanical properties, the skeletal motifs of E. aspergillum underlie the optimization of the flow physics within and beyond its body cavity. We use extreme flow simulations based on the ‘lattice Boltzmann’ method7, featuring over fifty billion grid points and spanning four spatial decades. These in silico experiments reproduce the hydrodynamic conditions on the deep-sea floor where E. aspergillum lives8–10. Our results indicate that the skeletal motifs reduce the overall hydrodynamic stress and support coherent internal recirculation patterns at low flow velocity. These patterns are arguably beneficial to the organism for selective filter feeding and sexual reproduction11,12. The present study reveals mechanisms of extraordinary adaptation to live in the abyss, paving the way towards further studies of this type at the intersection between fluid mechanics, organism biology and functional ecology.
AB - Since its discovery1,2, the deep-sea glass sponge Euplectella aspergillum has attracted interest in its mechanical properties and beauty. Its skeletal system is composed of amorphous hydrated silica and is arranged in a highly regular and hierarchical cylindrical lattice that begets exceptional flexibility and resilience to damage3–6. Structural analyses dominate the literature, but hydrodynamic fields that surround and penetrate the sponge have remained largely unexplored. Here we address an unanswered question: whether, besides improving its mechanical properties, the skeletal motifs of E. aspergillum underlie the optimization of the flow physics within and beyond its body cavity. We use extreme flow simulations based on the ‘lattice Boltzmann’ method7, featuring over fifty billion grid points and spanning four spatial decades. These in silico experiments reproduce the hydrodynamic conditions on the deep-sea floor where E. aspergillum lives8–10. Our results indicate that the skeletal motifs reduce the overall hydrodynamic stress and support coherent internal recirculation patterns at low flow velocity. These patterns are arguably beneficial to the organism for selective filter feeding and sexual reproduction11,12. The present study reveals mechanisms of extraordinary adaptation to live in the abyss, paving the way towards further studies of this type at the intersection between fluid mechanics, organism biology and functional ecology.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41586-021-03658-1
DO - 10.1038/s41586-021-03658-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 34290424
AN - SCOPUS:85110993575
SN - 0028-0836
VL - 595
SP - 537
EP - 541
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
IS - 7868
ER -