Collaborative Research: Measuring leaping performance, evaluating its anatomical correlates, and reconsidering the importance of leaping in primate origins and early evolution

合作研究：测量跳跃表现，评估其解剖学相关性，并重新考虑跳跃在灵长类起源和早期进化中的重要性

• 批准号: 2020434
• 负责人: Douglas Boyer
• 金额: $ 15.85万
• 依托单位: Duke University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-01-15 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2020434&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Measuring; leaping; performance

Primate species display a diverse range of adaptations for moving through their environments, and hypotheses about these locomotor patterns have long played a central role in models of primate origins. In this project, the investigators will use an integrative set of analytical techniques to (1) explore the correlation of “leaping related” skeletal traits with leaping performance and (2) assess the evolutionary implications of the resulting correlations in the primate fossil record. This approach is designed to provide validated evidence capable of supporting or refuting the hypothesis that selection for powerful arboreal leaping characterized early primate locomotion. Utilizing research facilities at the Duke Lemur Center and the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo (CMZ), this study will contribute to the debate on the relevance of leaping behavior during early primate evolution by providing quantitative biomechanical data on leaping performance in 19 species of extant primates. The project will enhance K-12 education and outreach via the involvement of high school research interns at Northeast Ohio Medical University and Duke University, as well as public outreach efforts through the teaching of a short course on primate locomotor biomechanics at a local STEM academy and public science events at the CMZ, Duke University’s Darwin Day, and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science. The project will also provide research training and opportunities for undergraduates, female graduate students, and a postdoctoral fellow. Differing hypotheses about ancestral primate locomotion have long generated strong debate about the predominant selective pressures acting during primate origins. Recent paleontological analyses have been interpreted to suggest that selection for improved leaping was particularly critical during early primate evolution. Hypotheses about the paleobiology of ancestral primates are constrained by a limited understanding of the functional significance of morphological variation in extinct lineages, as fossils currently provide only imprecise clues about behavioral capacity. Robust correlations between morphology and performance are needed to more precisely infer locomotor transitions during primate origins from the anatomical transformations revealed by fossils. Fortunately, leaping biomechanics are relatively easy to characterize, making this a particularly tractable locomotor behavior to study. This research is organized into two specific aims. (AIM 1) Investigators will use high-speed video and force plates to study leaping performance in a diverse sample of extant primates, squirrels, and treeshrews. These data will be combined with morphometric datasets to test hypotheses relating variation in leaping performance to variation in skeletal morphology. (AIM 2) Armed with a deeper understanding of the functional morphology of leaping performance, investigators will use phylogenetic comparative analyses and evolutionary modeling to investigate the selective importance of leaping at the origin of crown primates and during their subsequent evolution. This two-pronged approach will ground interpretations of primate “leaping” morphology with transformational functional specificity, permitting assessment of how morphological changes in the primate fossil record quantitatively affected leaping performance and informing long-standing debates on the ecological context of primate origins. This project is jointly supported by the NSF SBE-BCS-Biological Anthropology and BIO-IOS-Physiological Mechanisms and Biomechanics programs.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.

灵长类动物物种展示了在环境中移动的潜水员适应性范围，并且关于这些运动模式的假设长期以来在灵长类动物起源模型中起着核心作用。在该项目中，研究人员将使用一组集成的分析技术来（1）探讨“相关”骨骼特征与跳跃性能的相关性，并且（2）评估灵长类化石记录中所得相关性的进化含义。方法旨在提供有效的证据，能够支持或驳斥以下假设，即选择强大的树木跳跃以早期私人运动为特征。这项研究利用杜克狐猴中心和克利夫兰都会区动物园（CMZ）的研究设施将有助于关于早期灵长类动物进化过程中的飞跃行为相关性的辩论，通过提供19种额外灵长类动物中的量化生物力学数据。项目将通过在俄亥俄州东北医科大学和杜克大学的高中研究实习生的参与以及公共宣传工作以及通过在当地的STEM STEM Academy和公共科学活动的私人机车生物力学上的简短课程来提高K-12教育和外展。该项目还将为大学生，女研究生和博士后研究员提供研究培训和机会。关于祖先灵长类动作的不同假设长期以来就引起了关于在灵长类动物起源期间作用的主要选择压力的激烈争论。最近的古生物学分析被解释为表明，在灵长类动物早期进化期间，改善跳跃的选择尤其至关重要。关于祖先灵长类动物的古生物学的假设受到对灭绝谱系形态变化的功能意义的有限理解的限制，因为化石当前仅提供可观的运动行为能力。形态与性能之间需要强大的相关性，以从化石所揭示的主要起源中更精确地推断出主要起源的运动转变。幸运的是，飞跃的生物力学相对容易表征，这使得这是一个特别易于研究的运动行为。这项研究分为两个具体目标。 （AIM 1）调查人员将使用高速视频和强迫板来研究广泛的素数，松鼠和Treeshrews的潜水员样本中的跳跃性能。这些数据将与形态计量数据集结合使用，以测试跳跃性能的变化与骨骼形态变化有关的假设。 （AIM 2）武装着对跳跃性能的功能形态的武装，研究人员将使用系统发育比较分析和进化模型来研究冠冕灵长类动物的起源以及随后的进化期间的选择性重要性。这种两管齐的方法将以变革性的功能特异性对灵长类动物“跳跃”形态的解释进行基础，从而评估灵长类化石记录中的形态变化如何定量影响跳跃性能，并在灵长类动物起源的生态环境中介绍长期的辩论。该项目由NSF SBE-BCS生物学人类学和生物生理学机制和生物力学计划共同支持。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准来通过评估来诚实地支持。

项目成果

Jumping performance in tree squirrels: Insights into primate evolution

树松鼠的跳跃表现：深入了解灵长类动物的进化

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103386
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Journal of Human Evolution
• 影响因子: 3.2
• 作者: Boulinguez-Ambroise, Grégoire;Dunham, Noah;Phelps, Taylor;Mazonas, Thomas;Nguyen, Peter;Bradley-Cronkwright, Madison;Boyer, Doug M.;Yapuncich, Gabriel S.;Zeininger, Angel;Schmitt, Daniel
• 通讯作者: Schmitt, Daniel