The biological and aerodynamic implications of small body size for flight in insects

小体型对昆虫飞行的生物学和空气动力学影响

• 批准号: 407145837
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Fritz-Olaf Lehmann
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: School of Zoology
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2017-12-31 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/407145837?language=en
• 关键词: biological; aerodynamic; implications; small; body

Multiple insect species have undergone severe body miniaturization in the course of evolution, resulting in body sizes of less than a millimeter. The ability to fly is remarkable in these insects because high viscous friction on the body and flapping wings distinctly hinders aerial locomotion and produces elevated energetic costs. Miniaturization also leads to physiological constraints on the sensorimotor system owing to a reduced number of receptors and neurons needed for sensory processing. A reduced sensory capacity may lead to poor response accuracy during flight control and air turbulence-induced body posture reflexes. Although miniature insects are important agricultural pests or pest control agents, the mechanisms allowing them to mitigate aerodynamic, energetic, and physiological constraints are poorly understood. The proposed integrated research approach aims to investigate flight control, aerial behavior, muscle energetics, and fluid dynamics in four miniature insect species, representing four distinct insect orders. The project includes laboratory experiments on tethered and freely flying animals, using high-speed video, simulator flight, respirometric measurements, and robotics. The ultimate goal of the project is to understand how the various flight systems cope with the physical and physiological constraints on small bodies, and how flight-specific adaptations are linked with their functional roles during flight at the level of biomechanics and sensory biology.

在进化过程中，许多昆虫物种经历了严重的身体小型化，导致身体大小不到一毫米。这些昆虫的飞行能力是非凡的，因为身体上的高粘性摩擦和拍打的翅膀明显阻碍了空中运动，并产生了更高的能量成本。小型化还导致对感觉运动系统的生理限制，因为感觉处理所需的受体和神经元的数量减少。感觉能力的降低可能会导致飞行控制和空气颠簸引起的身体姿势反射反应的准确性较差。虽然微型昆虫是重要的农业害虫或害虫防治剂，但它们缓解空气动力学、能量和生理限制的机制尚不清楚。拟议的综合研究方法旨在研究四种微型昆虫的飞行控制、空中行为、肌肉能量学和流体动力学，这些昆虫代表四个不同的昆虫目。该项目包括使用高速视频、模拟器飞行、呼吸测量和机器人技术对拴着的和自由飞行的动物进行实验室实验。该项目的最终目标是了解各种飞行系统如何应对对小型物体的物理和生理限制，以及在生物力学和感觉生物学水平上，飞行特有的适应与其在飞行中的功能角色是如何联系起来的。