CAREER: Fighting Behavior, Performance, and the Evolution of Shape

该项目的完成将通过研究动物武器提高人类对生物进化的认识。了解进化对于找出抗生素耐药性等现代问题的解决方案至关重要，这是医学上的一个主要问题，也是理解地球上的生命如何变得如此多样化以及接下来将如何变化的关键。几个世纪以来，动物武器，包括大角羊身上的角、鹿身上的角和大象上的象牙等耐人寻味的结构，一直让人们着迷。已知的最早的人类绘画展示了野生动物与武器打斗的画面。尽管这些结构吸引了人们的兴趣，但对武器多样性的理解还处于初级阶段。这个项目将加深人们对为什么即使是关系密切的物种也可以拥有截然不同的武器的理解。同时，它将为我们提供重要的见解，解释为什么自然界中的其他形状和形式会如此多变。作为该项目的一部分收集的数据和标本将储存在科学档案馆和博物馆中，在那里它们将免费与其他研究人员共享，以供未来的项目使用。该项目还将直接为200多名大学生的科学教育做出贡献。这些学生将学习如何做科学，并认识到科学是一个过程，而不仅仅是事实的收集。研究人员还将通过博客、演示文稿和学生制作的关于科学经验的视频与公众互动并分享他们的结果。性选择产生的各种特征为理解行为和形态之间的进化互动提供了绝佳的机会。现在公认的是，配偶选择和男性-男性竞争可以根据饰品和武器的大小差异进行选择。然而，这些特征的形状的演变更令人费解。为什么会出现这样的形状多样性？在动物武器的情况下，栖息地驱动的雄性-雄性竞争行为的变化被假设为一个核心因素。然而，对这一假设的明确测试实际上是不存在的。该项目将研究战斗行为、生态和功能在武器形状演变中的作用，利用叶足虫(半翅目：科)极端的武器形状多样性和无数的战斗风格来解决长期存在的武器形状多样性的难题。方法包括实验选择分析、有限元分析、系统发育和祖先状态重建。这个项目的成功完成将利用武器这一媒介，为行为和形态之间的进化相互作用提供一个前所未有的分析。数据和标本将被存储起来，并通过国际档案馆与其他科学家共享，包括NCBI、Dryad和佛罗里达自然历史博物馆。200多名本科生将通过以课程为基础的本科生研究经历(CURE)为完成这一项目做出贡献，为此目的开发的课程材料将通过研讨会和出版物与其他教育工作者分享。还将向博士后研究员、研究生和本科生提供研究和教育整合方面的培训。将通过制作学生短片、博客、研究焦点、社交媒体和公开演示来实现实质性的推广。

The completion of this project will boost human knowledge of biological evolution through the study of animal weapons. Understanding evolution is essential for figuring out solutions to modern problems such as antibiotic resistance, a major problem in medicine, and for understanding how life on our planet became so diverse and how it will change next. Animal weapons including such intriguing structures as horns on bighorn sheep, antlers on deer, and tusks on elephants, have fascinated people for centuries. The earliest-known human paintings show wild animals fighting with weapons. In spite of the interest these structures have attracted, understanding of weapon diversity is in its infancy. This project will increase understanding of why even closely-related species can have profoundly different weapons. Simultaneously, it will provide important insights into why other shapes and forms in nature can be so variable. Data and specimens collected as part of this project will be stored in scientific archives and museums, where they will be shared freely with other researchers for use in future projects. This project will also contribute directly to the science education of more than two hundred college students. These students will learn how to do science and to recognize that science is a process, not just a collection of facts. The researchers will also interact and share their results with the general public through blogs, presentations, and student-made videos about experiences doing science.The diverse traits resulting from sexual selection offer outstanding opportunities for understanding the evolutionary interactions between behavior and morphology. It is now well established that mate choice and male-male competition can select for differences in the sizes of ornaments and weapons. However the evolution of the shape of these traits is more puzzling. Why has such shape diversity evolved? In the case of animal weapons, habitat-driven changes in male-male competitive behavior are hypothesized to be a central factor. However, explicit tests of this hypothesis are virtually nonexistent. This project will examine the roles of fighting behavior, ecology, and function in the evolution of weapon shape, capitalizing on the extreme weapon shape diversity and myriad of fighting styles in leaf-footed bugs (Hemiptera: Coreidae) to address the long-standing puzzle of weapon shape diversity. Methods include experimental selection analyses, finite element analysis, phylogenetics, and ancestral state reconstructions. The successful completion of this project will offer an unprecedented analysis of the evolutionary interplay between behavior and morphology, using the medium of weaponry. Data and specimens will be stored and shared with other scientists through international archives, including NCBI, DRYAD, and the Florida Museum of Natural History. Over 200 undergraduates will contribute to the completion of this project through Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CURE), and curricular materials developed for this purpose will be shared with other educators through workshops and publications. Training in the integration of research and education will also be provided to a postdoctoral researcher, graduate students, and undergraduates. Substantial outreach will be accomplished through the production of short videos by students, blogs, research spotlights, social media, and public presentations.