In the past decade the volvocine green algae, spanning from the unicellular Chlamydomonas to multicellular Volvox, have emerged as model organisms for a number of problems in biological fluid dynamics. These include flagellar propulsion, nutrient uptake by swimming organisms, hydrodynamic interactions mediated by walls, collective dynamics and transport within suspensions of microswimmers, the mechanism of phototaxis, and the stochastic dynamics of flagellar synchronization. Green algae are well suited to the study of such problems because of their range of sizes (from 10 μm to several millimetres), their geometric regularity, the ease with which they can be cultured and the availability of many mutants that allow for connections between molecular details and organism-level behavior. This review summarizes these recent developments and highlights promising future directions in the study of biological fluid dynamics, especially in the context of evolutionary biology, that can take advantage of these remarkable organisms.

中文翻译：

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绿藻作为生物流体动力学的模型生物


在过去的十年中，从单细胞衣藻到多细胞团藻，沃尔沃辛绿藻已成为解决生物流体动力学中许多问题的模型生物。这些包括鞭毛推进、游泳生物体的营养吸收、壁介导的水动力相互作用、微型游泳者悬浮液内的集体动力学和运输、趋光性机制以及鞭毛同步的随机动力学。绿藻非常适合研究此类问题，因为它们的尺寸范围（从 10 微米到几毫米）、几何规律性、易于培养以及许多突变体的可用性允许分子之间的连接细节和有机体水平的行为。这篇综述总结了这些最新进展，并强调了生物流体动力学研究的有前途的未来方向，特别是在进化生物学的背景下，可以利用这些非凡的生物体。