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

底物振动是一种无处不在的信息形式，动物用来感知和交流。它比其他感官形式对物理限制更敏感，因为振动必须在到达传感器之前通过往往不同的物理环境和动物本身传播。许多动物在使用这种通道进行感知时会表现出活跃的行为，甚至与目标相互作用，但控制这些过程的物理原理还没有被很好地理解。在这个奖项中，研究人员将研究一个由蜘蛛、网和目标(猎物、配偶、入侵者等)组成的扩展感觉系统模型，并阐述主动行为对振动感知调制的好处。球织蜘蛛是蜘蛛中最大的家族之一(3000多个物种)，它们的腿上使用传感器来感知目标通过蛛网和自己的腿传播的振动。尽管蜘蛛进化多样性很大，但许多编织蜘蛛物种表现出共同的行为策略，即当目标存在时调整网络构建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进化中的关键作用。研究人员将在一个模式生物(Uloborus Dissus)中探索蜘蛛主动调整腿部姿势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把生物实验与机器人物理和模拟建模结合起来，生物实验将定量地表征腿部姿势行为和腿部振动，机器人物理和模拟建模将系统地改变系统参数，以发现物理原理。这项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)中的振动的物理优势，利用活跃的行为。这项研究将通过发现支配自然环境中行为的物理原理来推动行为物理学的发展。这项研究还将通过增加对动物如何积极利用行为来调节构建的底物作为传感系统的一部分的理解，扩大生物主动传感的领域。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。私人投资促进机构还将把研究成果转化为K-12教育的宣传材料和活动。PIS将与当地一所高中和巴尔的摩科学中心(该中心向所有巴尔的摩公立学校的学生提供免费访问)合作，帮助扩大巴尔的摩STEM的参与，巴尔的摩是一个主要代表不足的弱势人口城市。这项工作的基本理解将有助于创造配备振动传感器的机器人，这些传感器能够主动振动传感，用于远程监测悬挂结构(例如，卫星和空间站上的悬索桥、电力线和在轨空间系绳)中的目标(例如，损坏、异物、碎片)。这些机器人可以帮助取代人类完成维护国家基础设施健康所需的危险任务。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.