CAREER: Linking Form and Function in Fire Ant Architecture

红火蚁是一种强壮且适应性强的群居昆虫，它们会挖掘由密集的隧道和洞穴网络组成的大型地下巢穴（一个大的蚁群可以容纳数十万只蚂蚁，一个大的巢穴可以有几英尺深）。这些蚂蚁具有很强的入侵性；它们原产于巴西，后来无意中被船运到全球各地，在北美和中美洲、几个加勒比岛屿、亚洲、澳大利亚都有立足之地，最近（截至2023年9月）在欧洲被发现。过去几十年的研究已经注意到它们对当地野生动物（包括农作物和牲畜）的健康和多样性的重大负面影响，以及它们进一步扩张的巨大潜力，使它们成为近100年前引入美国以来许多失败的根除尝试的焦点。虽然巢穴对蚁群的生存至关重要，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理解。在这个项目中，PI将利用实验和计算技术来建立红进口火蚁巢穴结构、功能和组织之间的联系，重点关注以下问题：(1)从地上动力学可以推断出地下巢穴结构的什么？(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实验室开发的一项新实验技术将首次提供大规模自然和实验室创造的巢穴内部结构和组织的空间分辨量化。虽然巢的大部分都在地下，但通过在地面上反复放置土壤颗粒，巢的顶部会形成一个土丘。定制的表面扫描仪提供伴随筑巢的地上丘形成动力学的定量三维数据。这种结合的方法首次提供了这类数据，并将有助于阐明自然筑巢、组织和适应性背后的物理和生物学原理，这些原理是在一个非常成功的筑巢大师物种中存在的。该项目还将支持与大亚特兰大女童子军新建立的外展伙伴关系，积极吸引年轻女孩，一个传统上在物理学中代表性不足的群体，参与物理学和生物学界面的令人兴奋的概念，技术和结果。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。

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.