Collaborative Research: EAGER: Characterizing a Novel Turbulence-generating System to Facilitate Exploration of Insect Orientation Behavior Under Real-world Conditions

合作研究：EAGER：表征新型湍流生成系统，以促进现实条件下昆虫定向行为的探索

• 批准号: 2132726
• 负责人: Neil Vickers
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: University of Utah
• 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: 2021-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2132726&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; EAGER; Characterizing; Novel

This project, a collaboration between a biologist and an engineer, will develop and test an innovative device to control and reproduce airflows in a wind tunnel to mimic those found in environments inhabited by flying insects. Odors or other similar signals are transported on air currents and form trails that many animals use to locate critical resources such as food, mates, and shelter. Current understanding of the behavior of flying insects in response to these cues has been garnered from studies in laboratory wind tunnels with steady, smooth flows. However, the wind conditions that occur in natural habitats are not uniform but instead are highly variable and turbulent. As such, understanding the strategies employed by flying insects as they orient and locate sources of airborne cues is incomplete. This project addresses this gap by characterizing turbulent flows in the field, refining the design of a novel airflow control device and testing it with insects navigating turbulent flows within a wind tunnel. Design and construction details of the airflow control device will be made available to the scientific community to facilitate new research aimed at elucidating the orientation tactics of other flying animals. New insights from studies using this technology may lead to improved control of important disease vectors (mosquitoes) and agricultural pests (moths), as well the performance of other flying animals. The proposed research project will provide interdisciplinary training for students and generate relevant curricular materials that highlight the interdisciplinary nature of the work for students in grades 6-12. For many animals, passive scalars such as odors, carbon dioxide, humidity, and heat are critical signals distributed in the environment according to turbulent dynamics of the fluid into which they are emitted. Currently, there is a significant deficiency in knowledge regarding the behavioral mechanisms utilized by flying insects in locating sources of such cues. This gap exists because virtually all previous studies have been conducted over relatively small distances in laminar-flow wind tunnel experiments where turbulence is minimized with attendant effects on scalar distribution. To bridge this gap, it will be necessary to develop an experimental set-up that enables the creation and control of turbulent wind conditions in the laboratory. The collaborative project will develop an innovative active grid system for the controlled and reproducible generation of turbulence tailored to conditions encountered in natural and built environments inhabited by two different exemplar insects (moths and mosquitoes). In order to accomplish this goal, turbulent conditions that occur in the field when insects are responding to relevant scalar cues will be characterized. Through the measurement of temperature and other passive scalars such as odors and carbon dioxide, the scope of turbulent plume structures generated by the active grid in a wind tunnel will be evaluated and tuned to the range determined from field measurements. The project will support two graduate students and one undergraduate researcher each year, who will be exposed to an inter-disciplinary research environment within the two collaborating laboratories. In addition, curriculum-appropriate materials about insect flight and behavior will be developed for grade 6-12 students and disseminated virtually.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.

该项目由一名生物学家和一名工程师合作，将开发和测试一种创新设备，以控制和复制风洞中的气流，以模拟飞行昆虫居住环境中的气流。气味或其他类似的信号在气流中传播，形成许多动物用来定位食物、配偶和庇护所等重要资源的踪迹。目前对飞行昆虫对这些线索的反应行为的理解是在实验室风洞中稳定、平稳流动的研究中获得的。然而，在自然栖息地发生的风况是不均匀的，而是高度可变和动荡的。因此，了解飞虫在定向和定位空中信号来源时所采用的策略是不完整的。该项目通过对野外湍流进行表征，改进一种新型气流控制装置的设计，并在风洞中用昆虫在湍流中飞行进行测试，从而解决了这一空白。气流控制装置的设计和构造细节将提供给科学界，以促进旨在阐明其他飞行动物定向策略的新研究。利用这项技术的研究产生的新见解可能有助于改善对重要疾病媒介（蚊子）和农业害虫（飞蛾）的控制，以及其他飞行动物的性能。拟议的研究项目将为学生提供跨学科培训，并生成相关的课程材料，突出6-12年级学生工作的跨学科性质。对许多动物来说，被动标量，如气味、二氧化碳、湿度和热量，是根据它们被释放到的流体的湍流动力学分布在环境中的关键信号。目前，关于飞行昆虫在定位这些线索来源时所利用的行为机制的知识明显不足。这一差距的存在是因为几乎所有先前的研究都是在相对较小的距离上进行的层流风洞实验，其中湍流最小，对标量分布的影响也最小。为了弥补这一差距，有必要开发一种能够在实验室中创建和控制湍流风条件的实验装置。该合作项目将开发一种创新的主动网格系统，用于控制和可再生的湍流产生，以适应两种不同的典型昆虫（飞蛾和蚊子）居住的自然和建筑环境中遇到的条件。为了实现这一目标，当昆虫对相关标量线索作出反应时，将对现场发生的湍流条件进行表征。通过测量温度和其他被动标量（如气味和二氧化碳），将评估风洞中由主动网格产生的湍流羽流结构的范围，并将其调整到由现场测量确定的范围。该项目每年将资助两名研究生和一名本科生，他们将在两个合作实验室中接触跨学科的研究环境。此外，还将为6-12年级的学生开发适合课程的昆虫飞行和行为材料，并在网上传播。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。