Collaborative Research: Brain Size, Metabolism and Sociality in Ants

大脑是一个非常复杂的器官，它产生行为。了解大脑的大小、结构和功能是最重要的科学前沿。 大脑的大小被认为受到社会生活的影响，但这种关系尚不清楚。该研究将解决两个重要问题：大脑如何随着身体大小而变化，以及大脑功能如何受到物种社会性质的影响。 这些问题将通过比较不同种类的蚂蚁来解决，这些蚂蚁在大小和社会生活方面有很大的差异。蚂蚁大脑的大小将使用一种新的方法来计算，一种新的高灵敏度技术将允许测量个体大脑的能量使用。 通过比较具有较大规模和劳动分工的群体与社会复杂性较低的小群体，可以理解社会生活对大脑大小和能量使用的影响。 将获得对影响包括人类在内的所有动物大脑进化的因素的广泛见解。 该项目将培训下一代科学家，使其具备研究技能，并将让教师和学生参与改善K-12科学教育的体验。 芝加哥大学实验学校和波士顿、凤凰城和普罗维登斯地区学校的代表性不足群体和不同少数群体学生的科学课程将得到充实。该项目将广泛满足关键的国家需要，以提高科学素养和激励职业选择，这将提高美国的全球竞争力。假设复杂的社会生活选择增加大脑大小和适应性房室异速生长神经支持行为是有争议的，并继续进行测试和辩论。 重要的是，大脑运作的能量成本几乎是未知的。 真社会性昆虫为解决这些大脑进化问题提供了极好的模型。 PI将在社会复杂性（群体大小，物理种姓）和工人身体大小范围广泛的蚂蚁物种中对大脑大小，缩放和代谢进行稳健采样，以测试蚂蚁脑组织的能量学与工人身体大小，形态种姓或物种无关的假设，因此与大脑大小成正比。 将评估大脑大小和代谢-以及具有社会功能的大脑区域的代谢率-与工人身体大小和群体大小的比例关系。 个体工人的大脑和个体工人的呼吸率将被测量，以确定在蚂蚁社会进化的背景下，控制大脑大小，结构和功能进化的综合生理学原则。 通过使用一个集成的工作流程，将研究机构和主要的本科院校之间的实验室连接起来，将通过计算构建来自共聚焦图像的大脑模板，以实现自动化，从而快速量化大脑的大小和结构。 该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

The brain is an extraordinarily complex organ that generates behavior. Understanding brain size, structure, and function are among the most important frontiers of science. Brain size is considered to be influenced by social life, but the relationship is unclear. The research will address two significant questions: how does the brain change with body size, and how is brain function affected by the social nature of species. These questions will be addressed by comparing different species of ants, which are remarkably variable in size and social life. Ant brain sizes will be computed using a novel method and a new highly sensitive technique will allow energy use in individual brains to be measured. By comparing colonies that exhibit large size and division of labor with less socially complex small colonies, the effects of social life on brain size and energy use can be understood. Broad insights into the factors that affect brain evolution in all animals, including humans, will be gained. The project will train the next generation of scientists to become skilled in research, and will engage teachers and students to improve the experience of K-12 science education. The science curriculum of students from underrepresented groups and diverse minorities at the Laboratory Schools of the University of Chicago and Boston-, Phoenix-, and Providence-area schools will be enriched. The project will broadly address critical national needs to improve science literacy and inspire career choices that will enhance the global competitiveness of the United States.The hypothesis that complex social life selects for increased brain size and adaptive compartmental allometries to neurally support behavior is controversial and continues to be tested and debated. Importantly, the energetic cost of operating the brain is virtually unknown. Eusocial insects offer excellent models to address these questions of brain evolution. The PIs will robustly sample brain size, scaling, and metabolism in ant species that range widely in social complexity (colony size, physical caste) and worker body size to test the hypothesis that the energetics of ant brain tissue are independent of worker body size, morphological caste, or species, and thus scale in direct proportion to brain size. Scaling relationships of brain size and metabolism - and metabolic rates of brain regions that have social functions - with worker body size and colony size will be assessed. Respiration rates of individual worker brains and individual workers will be measured to determine the integrative physiological principles governing the evolution of brain size, structure, and function in the context of ant social evolution. Employing an integrated workflow connecting labs between research and primarily undergraduate institutions, brain templates from confocal images will be computationally constructed to automate and thus rapidly quantify brain size and structure. Scaling relationships of functionally differentiated brain regions and estimates of brain and body metabolic rates will be determined.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.