Experimental Hydrodynamics and Evolution: Locomotor Design and Function of Pectoral Fins in Fishes

实验流体动力学和进化：鱼类胸鳍的运动设计和功能

• 批准号: 0090896
• 负责人: George Lauder
• 金额: $ 15.88万
• 依托单位: Harvard University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-01-01 至 2003-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0090896&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Experimental; Hydrodynamics; Evolution; Locomotor; Design

A hallmark of the enormous diversity of vertebrate animals is extensive variation in the structure and function of the pectoral appendage, which is fin-like in fishes and forms the upper limb in land vertebrates. How does this key feature of vertebrate design function, and what have been the major evolutionary pathways that lead to the forelimb that characterizes mammals? This proposal is designed to address these questions by directly measuring the function of pectoral appendages in water. Although pectoral function has been the subject of speculation for over 100 years, and nearly every textbook in comparative anatomy and paleontology discusses hypotheses of pectoral function, the difficulty of quantifying the effect of pectoral motion in water has prevented any direct experimental tests of these ideas. This grant will apply a novel engineering technique (Digital Particle Image Velocimetry) which allows the reconstruction of three dimensional flow patterns and direct measurement of the force that limbs exert on the water. For the first time we can quantify the function of structures working in fluids, and test long-standing hypotheses about how animals control their movement in water. This research will demonstrate the utility of applying novel engineering approaches to the study of vertebrate structure and function. The planned experiments will test old hypotheses and generate new ideas on which to base interpretations of evolutionary and functional patterns in the vertebrate forelimb.

脊椎动物巨大多样性的一个标志是胸鳍附肢的结构和功能的广泛变化，胸鳍附肢在鱼类中是鳍状的，在陆地脊椎动物中形成上肢。脊椎动物设计的这一关键特征是如何发挥作用的？导致哺乳动物前肢特征的主要进化途径是什么？该提案旨在通过直接测量胸鳍在水中的功能来解决这些问题。虽然胸鳍的功能已经被推测了100多年，几乎每一本比较解剖学和古生物学的教科书都讨论了胸鳍功能的假设，但量化胸鳍在水中运动的影响的困难阻碍了对这些想法的直接实验测试。这项资助将应用一种新的工程技术（数字粒子图像测速法），该技术可以重建三维流动模式，并直接测量肢体对水施加的力。这是我们第一次可以量化在流体中工作的结构的功能，并测试长期存在的关于动物如何控制它们在水中运动的假设。 这项研究将展示应用新的工程方法来研究脊椎动物的结构和功能的效用。计划中的实验将测试旧的假设，并产生新的想法，以解释脊椎动物前肢的进化和功能模式。