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lab profile

 

Michael Boller

St. John Fisher College
3690 East Ave
Rochester, NY 14618
USA

mboller@sjfc.edu
5858993732

PI: YES
Taxa Studied: Plants
Techniques Employed: Other, materials analysis, hydrodynamic analysis
Research Description: My lab is interested in understanding the ecomechanics of aquatic organisms. I take an integrative approach to the biology of aquatic organisms by bringing together tools and techniques from ecology, engineering, and physics to study the interactions between organisms and the moving water where they live. Much of my graduate and postdoctoral research focused on the reconfiguration macroalgae, the process by which these flexible organisms lower the drag experienced as velocity increases. This reconfiguration is the basic mechanism that allows macroalgae to grow large in the wave-swept rocky intertidal zone. Building from this background in intertidal marine ecology and biomechanics, my research here at Fisher aims to examine the mechanisms that freshwater organisms employ to deal with the constant but variable flows of fast moving streams and rivers. Currently, I am interested in studying the development of the mechanical properties of aquatic macrophytes. These aquatic plants experience different levels of hydrodynamic loading as they grow from small sprouts near the substratum to larger plants that extend beyond the boundary layer and into the free-stream velocity of the flow. biomechanics, hydrodynamics, material properties of plants and algae.
Lab Web Page:
Willing to Host Undergraduates: YES
Actively Seeking Undergraduates: NO
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