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

许多树栖动物利用空中滑翔来躲避捕食者或寻找资源。无翅节肢动物以“节肢动物雨”的形式从树上落下的频率很高，经常落在不熟悉和敌对的林下。这项工作结合了系统发育、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。将测量大量节肢动物与滑翔相关的形态和行为特征，并将其映射到进化树上，以确定这种行为的相关性。将从树冠上降落的蚂蚁与那些没有滑到树上而是降落在林下的蚂蚁的物种组成进行比较。该研究将在秘鲁和巴拿马节肢动物多样性高的雨林地点进行。最后，以一种常见的滑翔蚂蚁为实验对象，研究其气动控制机制。这是第一个将节肢动物的滑翔行为与特定的选择压力联系起来的研究，也是第一个量化热带雨林中节肢动物沉降的更大生态现象的研究。它将更广泛地评估地球上最多样化的谱系——昆虫——滑翔行为的生物学相关性。在更广泛的背景下，本研究收集的信息将与新兴的自扶正和机动微型飞行器技术相关。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实地助理进行培训。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，向教师研讨会介绍我们的研究结果。我们最初的滑翔蚁的发现引起了大众媒体和公众的极大关注，我们希望其他昆虫滑翔的结果也能引起同样的兴趣。

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.