A Conceptual Framework for Connecting Biology with Meteorology in Predicting Atmospheric Transport of Biota

Aerobiology is a multi-disciplinary field that brings together biologists, meteorologists, agronomists, specialists in remote sensing, geographers, and many other disciplines. Gaining an understanding of the interaction between biological organisms and the environment requires communication between researchers from the various disciplines. With regards to atmospheric transport of biota, the lack of communication between biologists and meteorologists can lead to an absence of data of the kind that can link the two disciplines.

This paper describes two conceptual models - the Biota Flight Behavior (BFB) model, which describes biota behavior in the environment, and the Atmosphere Biota Response (ABR) model which simulates atmospheric transport of biota with meteorological data generated from numerical weather prediction models. Since biological transport couples linearly with atmospheric models (there is no nonlinear feedback between the biota being transported and the atmosphere), it is not necessary to run the ABR and weather prediction models concurrently.

The conceptual models are demonstrated with an example of insect layering in a stratified atmosphere. The results are realistic in comparison with radar observations of insect layering but the real significance of the modeling approach is that it defines the kinds of data biologists need to generate in order to link with the meteorology of atmospheric transport.