Collaborative Research: How to Fall from Trees: Biomechanics and Ecology of Gliding Flight in Arthropods

许多树栖动物使用空中滑翔来躲避捕食者或寻找资源。无翼节肢动物从树上坠落的频率很高，被称为“节肢动物雨”，经常降落在陌生且充满敌意的林下。这项工作结合了进化论、生态学、行为学和空气动力学的方法来评估无翼飞行的整体生物学意义。与滑行相关的形态和行为特征将被测量大量节肢动物的形态和行为特征，并将被映射到进化树上，以确定这种行为的相关性。从树冠上掉下来的蚂蚁的种类组成将与那些没有滑到树上而落在林下的蚂蚁进行比较。这项研究将在秘鲁和巴拿马节肢动物多样性较高的热带雨林地点进行。最后，针对一种常见滑行蚂蚁的实验将检验空气动力学控制机制。这是第一次将节肢动物的滑行行为与特定的选择压力联系起来的研究，也是第一次量化热带雨林中节肢动物散落的更大生态现象的研究。它将更全面地评估地球上最多样化的物种--昆虫--滑翔行为的生物学相关性。在更广泛的背景下，这项研究收集的信息将与自动扶正和机动微型飞行器的新兴技术相关。这项研究将包括对阿肯色大学小石城分校(UALR)的一名研究生以及秘鲁和巴拿马研究地点的现场助理进行培训。此外，我们还将与UALR(EPSCoR机构)历史上代表性不足的本科生合作。我们还将与加州科学院合作开展外展活动，向教师讲习班介绍我们的研究结果。我们最初的滑翔蚂蚁发现引起了大众媒体和广大公众的极大关注，我们预计其他昆虫滑翔蚂蚁的结果也会引起类似的兴趣。

Many tree-dwelling animals use aerial gliding to escape predators or to locate resources. Wingless arthropods fall from trees with high frequency as "arthropod rain", often landing in the unfamiliar and hostile understory. This work combines phylogenetic, ecological, behavioral and aerodynamic approaches to assess the overall biological significance of wingless flight. Morphological and behavioral characteristics relevant to gliding will be measured for a large number of arthropods, and will be mapped onto evolutionary trees to identify correlates of this behavior. Species composition of ants falling from the tree canopy will be compared with those that fail to glide to trees, and instead land in the understory. The research will be conducted at rainforest sites having high arthropod diversity in Peru and Panama. Finally, experiments focusing on one common species of gliding ant will examine mechanisms of aerodynamic control. This is the first study to associate gliding behavior in arthropods with specific selection pressures, and the first to quantify the larger ecological phenomenon of arthropod fallout in rainforests. It will more generally evaluate the biological relevance of gliding behavior for the earth's most diverse lineage, the insects. In a broader context, information gathered in this study will be relevant to the emerging technology of self-righting and maneuverable microair vehicles. The research will include the training of a graduate student at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock (UALR) and field assistants at study sites in Peru and Panama. We will additionally work with historically under-represented undergraduates at UALR (an EPSCOR institution). We will also conduct an outreach component in collaboration with the California Academy of Sciences to present our findings to teacher workshops. Our original gliding ant discoveries attracted considerable attention from the popular media and the public at large, and we expect comparable interest in results with other insect gliders.