Meeting Abstract
Turbulence is a major atmospheric feature within the planetary boundary layer, influenced by weather, topography, vegetation, and convection processes. Under these challenging conditions, flying animals engage in intra- and inter specific interactions in order to feed, mate, and escape from predators. Previous experiments examining the effect of perturbed flow on individuals suggest that vortex size, turbulence intensity, and vortex decay are important factors that influence flight control, stability and energetics of flying animals. However, the effect of perturbed flows on ecological interactions remains largely unexplored. Here, we discuss the possible effects of perturbed flows on ecological interactions, based on recent evidence from the literature, as well as from experiments on predator-prey interactions between damselflies and fruit flies in turbulent flows. We conclude that unsteady flows can influence ecological interactions, particularly when the participants differ in body size. Thus, perturbed flow environments may play an important and previously unrecognized role in ecological processes such as foraging, habitat selection, predation, and mating.
