CAREER: Myco-fluidics -- Mathematics at the interface of fluid dynamics and fungal biology

该项目将数学建模和物理实验相结合，研究真菌的扩散和生长，并预测真菌如何对我们不断变化的地球做出反应。本项目的数学工作包括概率论、优化、动力系统、流体力学和新模型的综合。解决的核心生物学问题是：(i)适应性真菌网络如何形成以及它们如何优化混合和运输？（ii）这些网络中的流量如何自组织以消除拥塞？（iii）真菌采用什么适应措施来控制孢子的扩散？该项目将发展物理、遗传学和环境相结合的跨学科教学和研究方法。教学和研究是通过跨学科的训练研究生和本科生在数学和生物学相结合。新的本科数学建模研讨会和课程将强调社会影响。本科研究人员将得到指导，做出重要的研究贡献。人类、哺乳动物、鱼类、爬行动物和植物只是地球上巨大的生物多样性的冰山一角。地球上的大多数多细胞物种都未被描述，它们存在于植物内部或埋在土壤和灌木丛中。这些未被描述的物种中有数百万种被认为是真菌。增加我们对这些物种的了解很重要，因为新出现的真菌疾病威胁着我们的森林、作物和野生动物，对社会构成了危险。该项目将提供真菌网络适应的机制模型和真菌扩散的物理过程。这些模型将提供一个平台，预测哪些真菌能够适应和扩散到新的栖息地，以及它们这样做的速度。真菌传输网络使用的发现策略可以应用于各种其他设置（如交通或数据网络）中的调度问题。

This project combines mathematical modeling and physical experiments to study the dispersal and growth of fungi and to predict how fungi will respond to our changing Earth. The mathematical work in this project includes probability theory, optimization, dynamical systems, fluid mechanics, and the synthesis of new models. The central biological questions addressed are: (i) How do adaptive fungal networks form and how are they optimized for mixing and transport? (ii) How does the flow in these networks self-organize to eliminate congestion? (iii) What adaptations are used by fungi to control their spore dispersal? This project will develop interdisciplinary teaching and research methods connecting physics, genetics and the environment. Teaching and research are integrated through the interdisciplinary training of graduate and undergraduate students in mathematics and biology. New undergraduate mathematical modeling seminars and classes that emphasize societal impacts will be developed. Undergraduate researchers will be mentored to make key research contributions.Humans, mammals, fish, reptiles and plants represent only a razor's edge of the Earth's immense biodiversity. Most of the Earth's multicellular species are undescribed and lie inside of plants or buried in the soil and undergrowth. Millions of these undescribed species are thought to be fungi. Increasing our knowledge of these species is important because emerging fungal diseases pose a danger to society by threatening our forests, crops and wildlife. This project will provide mechanistic models of adaptation in fungal networks and the physical processes involved in fungal dispersal. These models will provide a platform for predicting which fungi are capable of adapting and dispersing into new habitats and the rate at which they will do so. The discovered strategies used by fungal transport networks can be applied to scheduling problems in a variety of other settings such as traffic or data networks.