Unravelling Three-Dimensional Active Transport by Ciliary Arrays on Coral Surfaces

Abstract

Cilia-driven flows in corals are crucial for exchanging nutrients, removing waste, and maintaining the ambient conditions necessary for corals' survival. While various studies have identified that ciliary activity can influence mass transport, the effect of local ciliary orientation and heterogeneity remains relatively unexplored. In this study, we combine noninvasive experimental measurements of ciliary distribution and alignment, with quantification of flow fields and spatial oxygen distributions among several species of reef-building corals, and develop a mathematical model based on singularity solutions of the Stokes equations to investigate mass transport near the coral's surface. Our f..