Collaborative Research: Exploring the interplay between form and function: the force-velocity trade-off in the spider predatory strike.

合作研究：探索形式与功能之间的相互作用：蜘蛛掠夺性攻击中的力与速度的权衡。

• 批准号: 2114562
• 负责人: Jeffrey Shultz
• 金额: $ 31.46万
• 依托单位: University of Maryland, College Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2114562&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Exploring; interplay; between

Spiders are important predators of insects and other small animals, and the group has nearly 50,000 described species. They are one of the most diverse and numerous groups of animals and occupy a wide variety of habitats; spiders also play an essential role in controlling pest populations. While great advances have been made in understanding how spiders use silk and venom to capture prey, very little is known about the main feeding structures of spiders, the chelicerae. These in some respects function like jaws of vertebrates since they are used to grasp and process prey. This research focuses on how the chelicerae are used during the predatory strike, when the spider grasps the prey and injects it with venom, and how the shape, speed and strength of chelicerae vary in different groups of spiders. The researchers will compare the anatomy and movements of chelicerae in a wide variety of spiders to better understand the evolution of feeding in the group. This work will also examine details of the super-fast predatory strike, found in certain types of spiders, and determine how it evolved. In addition to revealing the function and evolution of spider chelicerae, the project introduces spider biology to the next generation of scientists, with outreach to several groups ranging from high-school students to postdoctoral scholars. Results from this research will also be used to engage and educate the public, including school-aged children, through hands-on lessons that will be displayed at the National Museum of Natural History and used in a summer day camp at the University of Maryland.This research focuses on the comparative functional morphology of spider chelicerae, and tests the hypothesis that a fundamental biomechanical principle, the force-velocity trade-off, explains the diversification of their morphology and predatory strike dynamics. It is widely assumed that lever-based skeletomuscular systems are optimized to produce either high forces or high velocities, but not both simultaneously. Predictions of the force-velocity hypothesis will be tested using a broad sample of species from across the spider tree of life, including the “trap-jaw” spiders, some of which have predatory strikes that are the fastest movements known among arachnids. Structural details of the exoskeleton and musculature will be quantified through analysis of Computed Tomography scans and histological sections, and functional performance variables such as strike velocity will be measured through analysis of high-speed videos. A molecular phylogeny will be generated and used to provide the historical framework for examining the evolution of morphology and strike performance. Phylogenetically-informed statistical analyses will be used to determine whether the correlations between form and function anticipated by the force-velocity trade-off are consistent with the biomechanical diversity observed in spiders. The results will offer insights into the evolution of form and function in skeletomuscular systems and provide a rich source of new information on spider biology. This award is co-funded by two programs in the Directorate for Biological Sciences, the Systematics and Biodiversity Science Program in the Division of Environmental Biology, and the Physiological Mechanisms and Biomechanics Program in the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems.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.

蜘蛛是昆虫和其他小动物的重要捕食者，该类群有近 50,000 个已描述的物种。它们是种类最多、数量最多的动物类群之一，栖息地也多种多样。蜘蛛在控制害虫种群方面也发挥着重要作用。虽然在了解蜘蛛如何利用丝和毒液捕获猎物方面已经取得了巨大进展，但人们对蜘蛛的主要摄食结构（螯肢）却知之甚少。它们在某些方面的功能类似于脊椎动物的下巴，因为它们用于抓取和处理猎物。这项研究的重点是蜘蛛在捕食攻击时如何使用螯肢，即蜘蛛抓住猎物并向其注射毒液，以及不同蜘蛛群体的螯肢的形状、速度和强度如何变化。研究人员将比较各种蜘蛛的螯肢的解剖结构和运动，以更好地了解该群体的进食进化。这项工作还将研究在某些类型的蜘蛛中发现的超快速掠食性攻击的细节，并确定它是如何进化的。除了揭示蜘蛛螯肢的功能和进化之外，该项目还将蜘蛛生物学介绍给下一代科学家，并扩展到从高中生到博士后学者的多个群体。这项研究的结果还将用于通过在国家自然历史博物馆展示并在马里兰大学夏令营中使用的实践课程来吸引和教育公众，包括学龄儿童。这项研究的重点是蜘蛛螯肢的比较功能形态，并测试了这样的假设：基本生物力学原理，即力-速度权衡，解释了它们的形态和速度的多样化。 掠夺性打击动态。人们普遍认为，基于杠杆的骨骼肌肉系统经过优化，可以产生高力或高速度，但不能同时产生两者。对力-速度假说的预测将使用来自蜘蛛生命树的广泛物种样本进行测试，其中包括“陷阱颌”蜘蛛，其中一些蜘蛛具有掠食性攻击，这是已知的蛛形纲动物中最快的运动。外骨骼和肌肉组织的结构细节将通过计算机断层扫描和组织学切片的分析进行量化，并且将通过高速视频的分析来测量击球速度等功能性能变量。将生成分子系统发育并用于提供检查形态和打击性能演变的历史框架。基于系统发育的统计分析将用于确定力-速度权衡所预期的形式和功能之间的相关性是否与在蜘蛛中观察到的生物力学多样性一致。这些结果将为骨骼肌肉系统的形式和功能的进化提供深入的见解，并提供有关蜘蛛生物学的丰富的新信息来源。该奖项由生物科学理事会的两个项目共同资助，即环境生物学司的系统学和生物多样性科学项目以及综合有机系统司的生理机制和生物力学项目。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。