The onset of bio-thermal convection in a suspension of gyrotactic microorganisms in a fluid layer: Oscillatory convection

A linear stability analysis is applied to investigate the onset of bioconvection in a horizontal layer of fluid containing a suspension of motile microorganisms with heating or cooling from below. With cooling from below the stabilizing effect of the thermal stratification is opposed to the destabilizing effect resulting from the congregation of the microorganisms, and oscillatory convection is possible in certain circumstances. The stability criterion is found in terms of a thermal Rayleigh number, a bioconvection Rayleigh number, a bioconvection Péclet number, a gyrotactic number, and a measure of the cell eccentricity, together with (in the case of oscillatory convection) a Prandtl number and a Lewis number.