Hindlimb cortical bone adaptation and locomotion in primates

该项目将研究灵长类动物和其他哺乳动物腿骨和足骨的强度与运动行为的关系。研究人员利用高分辨率三维成像技术，对现存和化石灵长类动物、啮齿动物和有袋动物的大量样本进行后肢长骨的内部特征量化。研究结果将为以下方面提供新的信息：骨骼如何响应运动过程中产生的力，早期灵长类动物如何适应树栖环境，以及颅后骨骼如何在不同哺乳动物群体中响应类似的运动机制而进化。这项研究的社会影响包括扩大代表性不足的群体对科学的参与，并通过整合研究和教育来改善STEM教育。该项目的一个成果将是培训传统上在STEM领域代表性不足的学生，并编写教育材料，通过公共宣传活动和在线数据存储库共享。跳跃是许多现存灵长类动物的重要行为，被认为对灵长类动物身体计划的起源至关重要。虽然人们普遍认为最早的灵长类动物使用某种形式的跳跃运动，但灵长类动物的骨骼如何以及何时适应跳跃行为尚不清楚。本研究比较了运动行为不同的物种：1)确定后肢内部骨骼解剖与跳跃行为流行之间的形式-功能联系；2)确定跳跃灵长类动物、啮齿动物和有袋动物是否由于其相似的运动方式而具有相似的后肢骨强度适应；3)分析这些测量在现存和已灭绝灵长类动物群体中是如何进化的。使用高分辨率的微型计算机断层扫描，将计算跟骨、舟骨、股骨和胫骨的横截面几何特性，并比较不同物种的跳跃时间与四足动物的不同。此外，系统发育比较方法将用于评估现存和化石始新世灵长类动物跳跃行为的宏观进化模式、适应转变和趋同进化。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will examine the strength of leg and foot bones in primates and other mammals in relation to locomotor behaviors. The investigators use high-resolution three-dimensional imaging to quantify internal features of long bones of the hindlimb in a broad sample of living and fossil primates, rodents, and marsupials. Results will contribute new information on how bone responds to forces produced during locomotion, how early primates adapted to arboreal environments, and how the postcranial skeleton evolves in response to similar locomotor regimes in different mammalian groups. The societal impacts of this research include broadening participation of underrepresented groups in science and improving STEM education through integrating research and education. An outcome of this project will be training students traditionally underrepresented in STEM and preparing educational materials to be shared through public outreach events and an online data repository.Leaping is an important behavior for many living primates and is thought to have been vital to the origin of the primate body plan. While it is generally accepted that the earliest primates used some form of leaping locomotion, how and when the primate skeleton adapted to leaping behaviors is not well understood. This research compares species that differ in locomotor behavior to 1) identify form-function links between hindlimb internal bone anatomy and prevalence of leaping behaviors, 2) determine whether leaping primates, rodents, and marsupials share similar hindlimb bone strength adaptations due to their similar ways of moving, and 3) analyze how these measures of hindlimb bone strength evolved in living and extinct primate groups. Using high-resolution micro-computed tomography, cross-sectional geometric properties representing measures of bone strength will be calculated for the calcaneus, navicular, femur and tibia, and compared across species that differ in the amount of time spent leaping versus using quadrupedal behaviors. In addition, phylogenetic comparative methods will be used to evaluate macroevolutionary patterns, adaptive shifts, and convergent evolution of leaping behaviors in a sample of extant and fossil Eocene primates.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.