Collaborative Research: Integrated Modeling and Experimental Assessment of Chimpanzee and Hominin Locomotion

习惯直立的两足行走-完全用两条直腿行走-是使现代人类区别于其他灵长类动物的关键进化适应之一。相比之下，我们最近的亲戚黑猩猩使用的两足蹲姿是我们早期两足祖先如何行走的最好例子。因此，我们对黑猩猩双足运动的理解是理解人类运动进化的核心。在这个项目中，一个跨学科的科学家团队将使用最先进的计算机建模和基于实验室的实验技术来研究黑猩猩双足运动的力学，能量学和控制。具体来说，研究人员将开发一个黑猩猩肌肉骨骼系统的计算机模型，用于模拟双足行走。肌肉骨骼模型将被用来评估特定的形态适应的影响，已提出发挥作用，在人类两足动物的进化。计算机模型将由一套详细的经验得出的运动数据，将收集黑猩猩科目的补充。这些数据将充分记录黑猩猩的双足运动，并将有助于生成和验证双足行走模拟。这些建模和实验研究将被用于重建人类的南方古猿祖先最可能的两足行走方式，并通过这样做，确定南方古猿的两足行走是否是猿和人类之间的过渡。研究人员计划将计算机模拟模型和相应的实验数据广泛免费提供给其他科学家，并开发一个基于模型的学习模块，可用于功能形态学和生物力学的教学。此外，该项目将支持两名成功的女科学家的研究，并指导博士后研究员以及研究生和本科生。通过培训下一代科学家并创建免费可用的模型和数据资源，该项目将促进人类运动进化的发现，远远超出本项目。

Habitual upright bipedalism - walking exclusively on two straight legs - is one of the key evolutionary adaptations that sets modern humans apart from other primates. In contrast, the crouched form of bipedalism used by our nearest relatives, chimpanzees, represents the best available example of how our early bipedal ancestors would have walked. Therefore, advancing our understanding of bipedal locomotion in chimpanzees is central to understanding the evolution of locomotion in humans.In this project, an interdisciplinary team of scientists will use state-of-the-art computer modeling and lab-based experimental techniques to study the mechanics, energetics, and control of bipedal locomotion in chimpanzees. Specifically, the researchers will develop a computer model of the chimpanzee musculoskeletal system that will be used to generate simulations of bipedal walking. The musculoskeletal model will be used to evaluate the impact of specific morphological adaptations that have been proposed to play a role in the evolution of human bipedalism. The computer model will be complemented by a detailed set of empirically derived locomotor data that will be collected on chimpanzee subjects. These data will fully document bipedal locomotion in chimpanzees, and will aid in generating and validating the bipedal walking simulations. Together, these modeling and experimental investigations will be used to reconstruct the most likely manner in which the australopithecine ancestors of humans walked on two legs, and by so doing, determine if australopithecine bipedality was transitional between that of apes and humans.The broader impacts of this research will target both scientific and educational domains. The researchers plan to make the computer simulation models and corresponding experimental data widely and freely available to other scientists, and develop a learning module based on the models that can be used in teaching functional morphology and biomechanics. Moreover, this project will support the research of two successful female scientists, and the mentoring of postdoctoral fellows and both graduate and undergraduate students. By training the next generation of scientists and creating freely-available model and data resources, this project will facilitate discoveries in the evolution of human locomotion that go far beyond the present project.