How Orb-Weaver Spiders Use Leg posture to Modulate Vibration Sensing of Prey on Webs

圆织蜘蛛如何利用腿部姿势来调节网上猎物的振动感知

• 批准号: 2310707
• 负责人: Chen Li
• 金额: $ 61.13万
• 依托单位: Johns Hopkins University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2310707&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: How; Orb; Weaver; Spiders; Use

Substrate-borne vibrations are a ubiquitous modality of information that animals employ for sensing and communication. It is more sensitive to physical constraints than other sensory modalities, since vibrations must propagate through an often-heterogeneous physical environment and the animal itself before reaching the sensors. Many animals display active behavior or even interact with their target during sensing using this modality, yet the physical principles governing these processes are not well understood. In this award the investigators will study a model extended sensory system composed of a spider, a web, and a target (prey, mate, invader, etc.), and address the benefits of active behavior for modulation of vibration sensing. Orb-weaver spiders are one of the largest family of spiders (3000+ species) and use sensors on their legs to sense vibrations from the target propagating through the web and their own legs. Despite their vast evolutionary diversity, many orb-weaver spider species display common behavioral strategies of modulating web building and adjusting leg posture when a target is present to enhance vibration sensing, suggesting the crucial role of underlying physical principles in shaping the evolution of their behavior.The investigators will explore in a model organism (Uloborus diversus) how active modulation of leg posture by the spider can affect its vibration sensing of the target on orb webs. The approach to the problem will integrate biological experiments, which will quantitatively characterize leg posture behavior and web vibrations, with robophysical and simulation modeling, which will vary system parameters systematically to discover physical principles. The research will uncover in a model system how animals can take advantage of the physics of vibrations in both the physical environment (web) and biological media (spider itself) using active behaviors. This research will advance the physics of behavior by discovering the physical principles that govern behavior in naturalistic environments. This research will also expand the field of biological active sensing by adding understanding of how animals actively use behaviors to modulate a built substrate as part of the sensing system. This project will provide interdisciplinary, integrative training for students across all levels from PhD to high school in engineering and biology labs. The PIs will also convert research results into outreach materials and activities for K-12 education. The PIs will collaborate with a local high school and Baltimore Science Center (which offers free access to all Baltimore Public School students) to help broaden participation in STEM in Baltimore, a city with a primarily under-represented, disadvantaged population. The fundamental understanding from this work will inform the creation of robots equipped with vibration sensors capable of active vibration sensing for remote monitoring of targets (e.g., damage, foreign objects, debris) in suspended structures (e.g., suspension bridges, powerlines, and in-orbit space tethers on satellites and space stations). These robots could help replace humans from dangerous tasks that are required for maintaining the health of the Nation’s infrastructure.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.

基质传播的振动是动物用于感知和交流的普遍存在的信息形式。它比其他感官形式对物理约束更敏感，因为振动必须在到达传感器之前通过通常异质的物理环境和动物本身传播。许多动物在使用这种方式进行感知时表现出积极的行为，甚至与它们的目标进行互动，但管理这些过程的物理原理还没有得到很好的理解。在这个奖项中，研究人员将研究一个由蜘蛛、蜘蛛网和目标（猎物、配偶、入侵者等）组成的模型扩展感觉系统，并且解决了用于振动感测的调制的主动行为的益处。圆织蜘蛛是最大的蜘蛛家族之一（3000多个物种），它们使用腿上的传感器来感知通过网络和自己的腿传播的目标的振动。尽管它们具有巨大的进化多样性，但许多圆织蜘蛛物种显示出共同的行为策略，即当目标存在时，调节结网和调整腿部姿势以增强振动感知，这表明潜在的物理原理在塑造它们行为的进化中起着至关重要的作用。研究人员将在一个模型生物中进行探索（Uloborus diversus）蜘蛛对腿部姿势的主动调节如何影响其对球网上目标的振动感知。解决这个问题的方法将整合生物实验，这将定量表征腿的姿势行为和网络振动，与robophysical和仿真建模，这将系统地改变系统参数，以发现物理原理。该研究将在一个模型系统中揭示动物如何利用物理环境（网络）和生物介质（蜘蛛本身）中的振动物理学，使用主动行为。这项研究将通过发现自然环境中支配行为的物理原理来推进行为物理学。这项研究还将通过增加对动物如何积极使用行为来调节作为传感系统一部分的构建基底的理解来扩展生物主动传感领域。该项目将在工程和生物实验室为从博士到高中的所有级别的学生提供跨学科的综合培训。PI还将把研究成果转化为K-12教育的宣传材料和活动。PI将与当地的一所高中和巴尔的摩科学中心（该中心为所有巴尔的摩公立学校的学生提供免费访问）合作，以帮助扩大巴尔的摩的STEM参与，这是一个主要代表性不足的弱势人口城市。从这项工作的基本理解将告知机器人的创建配备有振动传感器能够主动振动传感的远程监测目标（例如，损坏、异物、碎片）在悬挂结构中（例如，悬索桥、电力线和卫星和空间站上的在轨空间系绳）。这些机器人可以帮助取代人类从事维护国家基础设施健康所需的危险任务。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。