Collaborative Research: The Functional Significance of Divergent Locomotor Muscle Designs In High Performance Fishes

合作研究：高性能鱼类不同运动肌设计的功能意义

• 批准号: 0617384
• 负责人: Chugey Sepulveda
• 金额: $ 18.73万
• 依托单位: Pfleger Institute of Environmental Research
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-09-01 至 2010-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0617384&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Functional; Significance; Divergent

This award supports investigations and comparisons of locomotor muscle function and design within a single family of large pelagic sharks, the thresher sharks (Alopiidae). All thresher sharks are easily recognized by their very long caudal fin, which serves for both forward thrust production and prey capture, however, recent work has shown that both the architecture of the swimming muscles and the vascular layout of the common thresher (Alopias vulpinus) is surprisingly distinct from that of the other two species (bigeye thresher, A. superciliosus, and pelagic thresher, A. pelagicus). In the common thresher the red, aerobic locomotor muscle (RM) is condensed into a solid piston-like muscle mass that is predominantly distributed over the anterior body in a medial position (i.e., near the vertebral column). Common threshers also differ from the other two species in having a vascular supply to the RM through a set of lateral vessels that give rise to a counter current heat exchange system. This heat exchange system allows the RM to conserve metabolically produced heat and be warmer than ambient temperature (i.e., regional endothermy). The Alopiidae is the only group known to possess both regionally endothermic and ectothermic taxa, and constitutes the ideal system for testing hypotheses on the evolution of divergent locomotor mechanisms. The researchers will examine the swimming biomechanics and kinematics, thermal physiology, and metabolic biochemistry in the three alopiid sharks. In particular, experiments are designed to determine how the locomotor muscles in the common thresher shark function during steady swimming, and to assess the degree to which the locomotor systems have diverged within a single group of closely-related sharks. Further, the striking similarities in RM morphology between tunas, lamnids, and the common thresher also provide an opportune platform for launching comparative studies that assess the degree to which all three of these groups have converged on a similar mechanical design for swimming. The intellectual merits of this project arise from the unprecedented opportunity to work with a poorly understood group of sharks and collect data on their swimming biomechanics, thermal physiology, musculotendinous adaptations, and the locomotor muscle contractile function. The proposed work will increase the understanding of how selective pressures may have sculpted two divergent muscle systems within the threshers sharks and how these pressures have affected the ecology and biology of this poorly understood group. The broader impacts of this work include participation of under-represented minority scientists, training of undergraduate and graduate students, development of a website for dissemination of research findings, and collaboration with, and outreach to commercial fishermen.

该奖项支持在大型远洋鲨鱼的单一家庭，长尾鲨（Alopiidae）的运动肌肉功能和设计的调查和比较。 所有长尾鲨都很容易通过它们非常长的尾鳍识别，尾鳍既用于向前推进，也用于捕获猎物，然而，最近的工作表明，普通长尾鲨（Alopias vulpinus）的游泳肌肉结构和血管布局与其他两种鲨鱼（大眼长尾鲨，A. superciliosus和远洋长尾鳕A. pelagicus）。 在普通长尾鲨中，红色的有氧运动肌（RM）浓缩成固体活塞状肌肉块，其主要分布在身体前部的中间位置（即，靠近脊柱）。 普通脱粒机也不同于其他两个物种，具有血管供应的RM通过一组侧血管，引起逆流热交换系统。该热交换系统允许RM保存代谢产生的热量并比环境温度更热（即，区域内温性）。 Alopiidae是唯一一组已知的同时拥有区域吸热和吸热类群，并构成了理想的系统，用于测试的不同运动机制的进化假说。 研究人员将研究这三种鲨鱼的游泳生物力学和运动学、热生理学和代谢生物化学。特别是，实验的目的是确定如何运动的肌肉在常见的长尾鲨功能稳定的游泳，并评估在何种程度上的运动系统已经在一组密切相关的鲨鱼分歧。 此外，金枪鱼，lamnids，和共同的脱粒机之间的RM形态惊人的相似性也提供了一个合适的平台，开展比较研究，评估的程度，所有这三个群体都聚集在一个类似的机械设计游泳。 这个项目的智力价值来自于前所未有的机会，与一群了解甚少的鲨鱼一起工作，并收集有关其游泳生物力学，热生理学，肌腱适应和运动肌肉收缩功能的数据。拟议的工作将增加对选择性压力如何塑造长尾鲨内两个不同肌肉系统的理解，以及这些压力如何影响这个鲜为人知的群体的生态和生物学。这项工作的更广泛影响包括代表性不足的少数群体科学家的参与、对本科生和研究生的培训、开发一个网站以传播研究成果、与商业渔民合作并与他们联系。