Symposium SICB 2021 An Evolutionary Tail: EvoDevo, structure, and function of post-anal appendages.

许多动物都有尾巴，尾巴的形状和功能非常不同。它们可以是短的，长的，厚的，薄的，有羽毛的，多毛的，秃顶的，尖刺的，甚至没有。尾巴有很多功能，包括推进、交流、摇摆、平衡和抓握。然而，尽管尾巴对动物的功能和进化很重要，但与四肢相比，尾巴的研究还远远不够。相对而言，我们对它们的发育、形态多样性或机械功能知之甚少。该奖项支持一个跨学科研讨会，该研讨会将汇集研究动物和机器人的各种尾巴和尾巴相关主题的科学家和工程师。它将促进和加强知识和专门知识的交流。本次研讨会的成果将是一个合作研讨会，将确定有关尾巴生物学的关键未解问题，并通过未来的研究解决这些挑战的路线图。该研讨会突出了早期职业研究人员和在科学领域代表性不足的群体的成员。在与霍华德大学和综合与比较生物学学会扩大参与委员会的合作下，研讨会的参与者将举办一次外展活动，为霍华德大学和华盛顿特区其他潜在的历史黑人学院和大学的学生提供交流经验。尽管尾巴在动物中多样且常见，但对尾巴的研究还远远不够，尽管在许多机器人设计中，功能性后肛门附属物的重要性得到了认可。了解尾巴的发育和功能有助于了解附属物的潜在进化意义。本次研讨会汇集了来自多个学科的研究人员，他们对这一领域的研究兴趣相对独立，从不同的角度进行研究。他们将分享关于动物和机器人尾巴的发育、形态和功能的多样性的发现，并寻求推动这一附属物成功的一般原理。研讨会将促进包括发育生物学、工程学、物理学和行为生物学等领域的跨学科研究讨论。此外，有组织的午餐会将进一步促进采用不同模型系统的不同研究人员之间的思想、概念和方法的积极交流。研讨会强调在STEM领域未被充分代表的早期职业研究人员和群体，并提供指导、分享想法和概念以及发展新合作的机会。研讨会的结果将是一篇前瞻性的评论文章，它将描述尾部研究的现状，并确定尚未解决的问题，这些问题有可能通过跨学科合作来解决。这篇综述文章将介绍本次研讨会综合生物学和比较生物学的论文汇编。最后，这笔资金将用于支持一个以华盛顿特区少数民族服务机构为中心的外展活动。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，认为值得支持。

Non-Technical AbstractMany animal species have tails, which are remarkably diverse in shape and function. They can be short, long, thick, thin, feathered, hairy, bald, spiked, or even absent. Tails can serve many functions, including propulsion, communication, flagging or rattling, balancing, and grasping. However, although tails are important to animal function and evolution, compared to limbs, tails are vastly understudied. Relatively little is known about their development, morphological diversity, or mechanical function. This award supports a cross-disciplinary symposium that will bring together scientists and engineers who study a wide variety of tail and tail-related topics in animals and robots. It will facilitate and enhance exchange of knowledge and expertise. The outcomes of this symposium will be a collaborative workshop that will identify critical unanswered questions concerning the biology of tails and a roadmap for addressing these challenges through future research. The symposium highlights early-career researchers and members of groups under-represented in the sciences. In partnership with Howard University and the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology Broadening Participation Committee, participants in the symposium will host an outreach event to provide a networking experience for students from Howard University and potentially other Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the Washington, D.C. area.Technical AbstractAlthough diverse and common among animals, tails are vastly understudied structures, even though the importance of a functional post-anal appendage is recognized in many robotic designs. Understanding how tails develop and function contributes insight to potential evolutionary significance of the appendage. This symposium brings together investigators from multiple disciplines with research interests in this area who have worked relatively independently, from distinct perspectives. They will share findings on the diversity of development, form, and functions of tails - in animals and robots – and seek general principles that have driven the success of this appendage. The symposium will facilitate cross-disciplinary research discussions among fields including developmental biology, engineering, physics, and behavioral biology. In addition, an organized luncheon will further facilitate the active exchange of ideas, concepts, and approaches among diverse researchers who employ different model systems. The symposium emphasizes early-career researchers and groups under-represented in STEM, and provides opportunities for mentoring, sharing of ideas and concepts, and development of new collaborations. The outcomes of the symposium will be a forward-looking review article that will delineate the current state of tail research and identify the unanswered questions with potential to be addressed by interdisciplinary collaborations. This review article will introduce the compilation of this symposium’s papers in Integrative and Comparative Biology. Finally, the grant will help support an outreach event centered on Minority Serving Institutions in the region of Washington, D.C.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.