Collaborative Research: Paleocolor--The Mechanics and Evolution of Plumage Color in Birds and Other Dinosaurs

合作研究：古色-鸟类和其他恐龙羽毛颜色的机制和进化。阿克伦，耳朵-1251895朱莉娅·克拉克，大学得克萨斯州，奥斯汀，EAR-1251922该奖项由美国国家科学基金会国际科学与工程部共同资助。拟议的研究将极大地提高我们对基于黑色素的颜色产生的生理学的了解，将为了解颜色和基于颜色的新奇事物对鸟类进化的意义提供独特的见解，并可能为新的光学纳米结构提供灵感。最近的发现表明，羽毛变色的证据可以在化石记录中以保存下来的黑色素小体(含黑色素的细胞器)的形式被发现，这使得在考虑到灭绝的和现存的恐龙物种的框架内研究羽毛变色成为可能。PIS建议确定黑小体的形态和化学如何与现存鸟类的颜色产生有关，确定这些关系如何被石化改变，然后使用这些数据来检验关于羽毛颜色对鸟类进化意义的假设。因此，这项涉及形态学、古生物学、进化生物学和化学的跨学科提案分为两个相互关联的部分，并有具体的交付成果。在第一部分中，PI将使用紫外可见反射光谱客观地测量现存羽毛的颜色，扫描电子显微镜(SEM)定量黑素体的形态，同步加速器质谱仪(Synchrontron-Based MS)检测化学，原子力显微镜(AFM)检测黑素体的表面纹理。使用这些多重测量和统计分析来定量地确定它们与颜色之间的关系，将使他们能够根据对化石样本的评估来自信地重建颜色。羽毛和黑素小体的实验性降解将有助于PI确定黑素小体的形状和/或化学可能如何改变。第二部分引用了第一部分的数据，以解决以前关于颜色多样性的起源和在羽毛进化中的作用的不可验证的假设。利用聚焦离子束(FIB)研磨和显微镜，PI将识别鸟类中有助于颜色多样化的新形态的存在，即彩虹状纳米结构和中空、扁平的黑素体，它们可以产生自然界中一些最明亮的颜色。这将使PI能够估计黑素体形态多样性和颜色可能如何从羽毛进化的早期转变到现代鸟类，以及这种多样性是否与羽毛进化中的重大转变有关。恐龙的颜色提供了一个引人入胜的背景，将化学、物理和生物学的基础知识带到课堂和普通公众中。PIS提出了几个公共宣传方案，这些方案将利用公众对这项工作的强烈兴趣。开发公开可用的数据分析工具将使科学界能够广泛应用其技术。

Collaborative Research: Paleocolor- the mechanisms and evolution of plumage color in birds and other dinosaurs Matthew Shawkey, Univ. Akron, EAR-1251895 Julia Clarke, Univ. Texas, Austin, EAR-1251922This award is being co-funded by NSF's International Science and Engineering section. ABSTRACTThe proposed research will greatly improve our knowledge of the physiology of melanin-based color production, will provide unique insight into the significance of color and color-based novelties to the evolution of birds, and may provide inspiration for new optical nanostructures. The recent discovery that evidence of feather coloration can be found in the fossil record in the form of preserved melanosomes (melanin-containing organelles) now allows investigation of plumage coloration in a framework considering both extinct and living dinosaur species. PIs propose to identify how melanosome morphology and chemistry relate to color production in extant birds, determine how these relationships may be altered by fossilization, and then use these data to test hypotheses on the significance of plumage color to avian evolution. This interdisciplinary proposal, involving morphology, paleontology, evolutionary biology and chemistry, is therefore divided into two linked sections with specific deliverables. In the first section, PIs will use ultraviolet-visible reflectance spectrometry to objectively measure color of extant feathers, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to quantify melanosome morphology, synchrotron-based mass spectrometry to examine chemistry and atomic force microscopy to examine surface texture of melanosomes. The use of these multiple measurements, and statistical analyses to quantitatively identify relationships between them and color, will allow them to make confident reconstructions of color based on assessment of fossil samples. Experimental degradation of feathers and melanosomes will help PIs determine how melanosome shape and/or chemistry may be altered. The second section brings data from the first to address previously untestable hypotheses concerning the origin and role of color diversity in feather evolution. Using focused ion beam (FIB) milling and microscopy, PIs will identify the presence of novel morphologies contributing to color diversification in birds, i.e. iridescent nanostructures and hollow, flattened melanosomes that produce some of the brightest colors in nature. That will allow PIs to estimate how melanosome morphological diversity and thus color may have shifted from early in evolution of feathers through modern birds and whether this diversification was associated with major transitions in the evolution of feathers. The color of dinosaurs presents an engaging context to bring fundamentals of chemistry, physics, and biology to the classroom and the lay public. PIs propose several public outreach programs that will capitalize on strong public interest in this work. Development of publicly available data analysis tools will allow broad applications of their techniques by the scientific community.