CAREER: The evolutionary mechanics of rapid movement

快速射击的陷阱蚁、爆炸的山茱萸花、弹道两栖动物的舌头和水母的细胞矛，通过功率放大的简单物理原理产生极快的运动：功相对于时间的放大，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，迄今为止的大多数研究都集中在解决单个物种有趣的生物力学上，尤其是对功率放大系统多样化背后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、统一的原则；（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，我们将在螳螂虾（口足纲）中研究功率放大的进化和生物力学，螳螂虾是动物界中最快、最有力的捕食运动之一。 这些令人印象深刻的动作是通过缓慢收缩的肌肉来控制的，这些肌肉会激活包括弹簧、闩锁、连杆和杠杆臂在内的功率放大结构网络。 这种功率放大系统在 450 种口足类动物中得到保留，但它们的猛禽附属物表现出显着的多样性，从带刺和带刺的矛到斧头和锤子。将从两个角度研究功率放大。 第一个目标是探讨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，数学模型将用于测量负载状态、能量传输和阻力变化的影响，物理模型将用于检查流体动力和空化的能量成本和效益。 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时间变化，同时仍然保持有凝聚力的功能性机械系统。 这项研究的高潮将是对功率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分析。 教育计划包括从高中到博士后等多个级别的发现和培训。 跨学科、计算和实地研究的实践培训将涉及本科生、研究生和博士后学者。 一门新的本科课程将融合物理、工程学、计算和基于进化的有机运动方法。 由首席研究员 (PI) 创立的现有项目过去两年在麻省大学阿默斯特分校的生物学实验室中积累了 200 多项本科生研究经验，该项目将扩大到包括第二个项目，为麻省大学本科生提供学位授予部门之外的跨学科研究机会。 通过这笔赠款，麻省大学生物系将建立一个教师研究经验项目；每年夏天，一名高中教师都会在 PI 的实验室进行研究，并在区域会议上进行演示、拍摄有关经验的照片纪录片，并开发符合州标准的基于探究的课堂材料。

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.