CAREER: Linking Form and Function in Fire Ant Architecture

职业：火蚁建筑中形式与功能的联系

• 批准号: 2340500
• 负责人: Jennifer Rieser
• 金额: $ 72.49万
• 依托单位: Emory University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-08-01 至 2029-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2340500&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Linking; Form; Function; Fire

Red imported fire ants are robust and adaptable social insects that excavate large below-ground nests composed of dense networks of tunnels and chambers (a large colony can contain hundreds of thousands of ants, and a large nest can be several feet deep). These ants are highly invasive; originally native to Brazil, they have been inadvertently transported via ships across the globe and have established footholds in North and Central America, several Caribbean islands, Asia, Australia, and have very recently (as of September 2023) been found in Europe. Studies over the past several decades have noted their significant negative impacts on the health and diversity of local wildlife (including crops and livestock) and their great potential for further expansion, making them the focus of many failed eradication attempts since their introduction into the US nearly 100 years ago. While nests are crucial for a colony's survival, nest size and soil opacity have prevented detailed investigation or theoretical understanding. In this project, the PI will use experimental and computational techniques to establish links between the nest structures, functions, and organization in the red imported fire ant by focusing on the following questions: (1) what can be inferred about below-ground nest structures from above-ground dynamics? (2) how are subterranean nests organized? and (3) how do environmental factors influence subterranean nest networks? A new experimental technique developed in the PI’s laboratory will provide, for the first time, spatially resolved quantification of the internal structure and organization within large-scale natural and lab-created nests. Though most of the nest is below-ground, a mound is created atop the nest through the repeated placement of soil pellets above ground. A custom-built surface scanner provides quantitative three-dimensional data of the above-ground mound formation dynamics that accompany nest construction. This combined approach provides the first ever data of this kind and will help elucidate the physical and biological principles underlying natural nest construction, organization, and adaptability in a highly successful species of master builders. This project will also support a newly established outreach partnership with The Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta will actively engage young girls, a traditionally underrepresented group in physics, in exciting concepts, techniques, and results at the interface of physics and biology.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.

红火蚁是一种健壮且适应性强的社会昆虫，它们挖掘由密集的隧道和腔室网络组成的大型地下巢穴（一个大型殖民地可以容纳数十万只蚂蚁，一个大型巢穴可以有几英尺深）。 这些蚂蚁是高度入侵性的;最初原产于巴西，它们被无意中通过船只运送到地球仪各地，并在北美和中美洲，几个加勒比岛屿，亚洲，澳大利亚建立了立足点，最近（截至2023年9月）在欧洲被发现。过去几十年的研究指出，它们对当地野生动物（包括农作物和牲畜）的健康和多样性产生了重大的负面影响，并具有进一步扩大的巨大潜力，使它们成为自近100年前引入美国以来许多失败的根除尝试的焦点。虽然巢穴对殖民地的生存至关重要，但巢穴的大小和土壤的不透明度阻碍了详细的调查或理论上的理解。在这个项目中，PI将使用实验和计算技术来建立巢结构之间的联系，功能，并在红火蚁的组织集中在以下问题：（1）可以推断出地下巢结构从地上动态？(2)地下巢穴是如何组织的（3）环境因素如何影响地下巢网？PI实验室开发的一种新的实验技术将首次提供大规模自然和实验室创建的巢穴内部结构和组织的空间分辨量化。虽然大部分的巢穴都在地下，但通过在地面上反复放置土壤颗粒，在巢穴顶部形成了一个土堆。一个定制的表面扫描仪提供了定量的三维数据的地上土堆形成动态，伴随着巢建设。这种结合的方法提供了有史以来第一次这种类型的数据，并将有助于阐明自然筑巢，组织和适应性在一个非常成功的主建筑师物种的物理和生物学原则。该项目还将支持与大亚特兰大女童子军新建立的外展合作伙伴关系，将积极吸引年轻女孩，传统上在物理学中代表性不足的群体，在物理学和生物学的界面上实现令人兴奋的概念，技术和结果。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。