CAREER: The evolutionary mechanics of rapid movement

快速射击的陷阱颚蚂蚁，爆炸的山茱萸花，弹道两栖动物的舌头和水母的细胞矛通过简单的功率放大物理原理产生了极其快速的运动：相对于时间的功的放大，使得运动的持续时间随着速度和加速度的增加而减少。在过去的四十年里，功率放大一直是理解生物学快速运动的指导物理原理。然而，迄今为止，大多数研究都集中在解决单个物种的生物力学问题上，而对能量放大系统多样化的进化过程和模式知之甚少。该提案有两个主要目标：(1)检查和测试生物学快速运动背后的广泛统一原则；(2)建立和实施一个定量框架，以理解生物力学多样化的进化动力学。为了实现这些目标，将研究螳螂虾（口足目）的进化和力量放大的生物力学，螳螂虾在动物王国中产生最快和最有力的掠食性运动。这些令人印象深刻的动作是由缓慢收缩的肌肉控制的，这些肌肉激活了一个能量放大结构网络，包括弹簧、锁扣、连杆和杠杆臂。这种力量放大系统在450多种口足类动物中都是保守的，然而它们的猛禽附属物却表现出了显著的多样性，从带刺的长矛到斧头和锤子。功率放大将从两个角度进行研究。第一个目标是探索功率放大系统的组件如何变化以实现不同的输出。将进行弹簧材料和机械测试，将使用数学模型来测量载荷制度、能量传输和阻力变化的影响，并使用物理模型来检查流体动力和空化的能量成本和收益。第二个目标是询问如何实现生物力学整合和宏观进化变异性的平衡，特别是通过测试功率放大机制的关键参数如何随着时间的推移而变化，同时仍然保持一个内聚的、功能性的机械系统。这项研究的最终成果将是对能量放大的基本物理原理与快速生物运动的进化多样化之间的动态相互作用进行定量的、进化的分析。该教育计划包括从高中到博士后的多层次发现和培训。本科生、研究生和博士后学者将参与跨学科、计算和实地研究的实践培训。一门新的本科课程将结合物理、工程、计算和基于进化的方法来研究有机运动。由首席研究员（PI）创立的现有项目，在过去两年中在马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校的生物实验室中产生了200多名本科生的研究经验，将扩大到包括第二个项目，为马萨诸塞大学本科生提供学位授予部门以外的跨学科研究机会。通过这笔拨款，将在马萨诸塞大学生物系建立一个教师研究经验项目；每年夏天，一名高中教师将在PI进行研究。在美国的实验室里，他们在一个地区会议上做了一次报告，拍摄了一张关于这一经历的照片纪录片，并开发了符合国家标准的以探究为基础的课堂材料。

Rapid-fire trap-jaw ants, exploding dogwood flowers, ballistic amphibian tongues and the cellular spears of jellyfish produce extremely rapid movements through the simple physical principle of power amplification: the amplification of work relative to time, such that the duration of movement is decreased as speed and acceleration are increased. For the past forty years, power amplification has been the guiding physical principle in understanding fast movement in biology. However, most studies to date have focused on solving the intriguing biomechanics of single species and notably little is known about the evolutionary processes and patterns underlying the diversification of power-amplified systems. This proposal has two primary goals: (1) to examine and test the broad, unifying principles that underlie rapid movements in biology and (2) to establish and implement a quantitative framework for understanding the evolutionary dynamics of biomechanical diversification. To address these goals, the evolution and biomechanics of power amplification will be studied in mantis shrimp (Stomatopoda) which generate among the fastest and most forceful predatory movements in the animal kingdom. These impressive movements are controlled by slowly contracting muscles that activate a network of power amplification structures including springs, latches, linkages and lever arms. This power amplification system is conserved across the 450+ species of stomatopods, yet their raptorial appendages exhibit remarkable diversity ranging from spiny and barbed spears to hatchets and hammers.Power amplification will be examined from two perspectives. The first aim is to probe how the components of power-amplified systems vary to achieve different outputs. Spring material and mechanical testing will be performed, a mathematical model will be used to measure the effects of variation in loading regimes, energy transmission and drag, and a physical model will be used to examine the energetic costs and benefits of fluid dynamic forces and cavitation. The second aim is to ask how a balance of biomechanical integration and macroevolutionary variability is achieved, specifically by testing how key parameters of power amplification mechanisms are varied over time while still maintaining a cohesive, functional mechanical system. The culmination of this research will be a quantitative, evolutionary analysis of the dynamic interplay between the fundamental physical principles of power amplification and the evolutionary diversification of rapid biological movements. The Educational Plan includes discovery and training at multiple levels, ranging from high school to postdoctoral. Hands-on training in interdisciplinary, computational and field research will involve undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. A new undergraduate-level course will incorporate physics, engineering, computational and evolution-based approaches to organismal movement. An existing program founded by the Principal Investigator (PI), which has generated over 200 undergraduate research experiences in biology laboratories over the past two years at UMass Amherst, will be expanded to include a second program to match UMass undergraduates with interdisciplinary research opportunities outside of their degree-granting departments. A Research Experience for Teachers program will be established in the UMass Biology department through this grant; each summer, a high school teacher will conduct research in the PI?s laboratory leading to a presentation at a regional conference, a photo-documentary of the experience, and the development of inquiry-based classroom materials that conform to state standards.