CAREER: Fighting Behavior, Performance, and the Evolution of Shape

该项目的完成将通过动物武器的研究提高人类对生物进化的认识。了解进化对于解决抗生素耐药性等现代问题至关重要，抗生素耐药性是医学上的一个主要问题，也是了解我们星球上的生命如何变得如此多样化以及下一步将如何变化的关键。动物武器包括大角羊的角，鹿的鹿角和大象的象牙等有趣的结构，几个世纪以来一直吸引着人们。已知的最早的人类绘画描绘了野生动物用武器战斗。尽管这些结构引起了人们的兴趣，但对武器多样性的了解仍处于起步阶段。这个项目将增加对为什么即使是密切相关的物种也可以拥有截然不同的武器的理解。同时，它将提供重要的见解，为什么自然界中的其他形状和形式可以如此多变。作为该项目的一部分收集的数据和标本将储存在科学档案馆和博物馆，在那里它们将与其他研究人员免费共享，供未来的项目使用。该项目还将直接促进200多名大学生的科学教育。这些学生将学习如何做科学，并认识到科学是一个过程，而不仅仅是事实的集合。研究人员还将通过博客、演讲和学生制作的关于科学经验的视频与公众互动和分享他们的结果。性选择导致的多样性特征为理解行为和形态之间的进化相互作用提供了绝佳的机会。现在已经确定的是，配偶选择和雄性之间的竞争可以选择不同大小的装饰品和武器。然而，这些特征的形状演变更令人困惑。为什么会进化出如此多样的形状？在动物武器的情况下，栖息地驱动的变化，男性男性之间的竞争行为被假设为一个核心因素。然而，这一假设的明确测试几乎是不存在的。该项目将研究战斗行为，生态和功能在武器形状演变中的作用，利用极端的武器形状多样性和叶足虫（半翅目：Coreidae）的无数战斗风格来解决武器形状多样性的长期难题。方法包括实验选择分析，有限元分析，遗传学和祖先状态重建。这个项目的成功完成将提供一个前所未有的分析行为和形态之间的进化相互作用，使用武器的媒介。数据和标本将通过NCBI、DRYAD和佛罗里达自然历史博物馆等国际档案馆进行存储并与其他科学家共享。200多名本科生将通过基于课程的本科生研究经验（CURE）为完成该项目做出贡献，为此目的开发的课程材料将通过研讨会和出版物与其他教育工作者分享。还将向博士后研究员、研究生和本科生提供研究与教育一体化方面的培训。将通过学生制作短视频、博客、研究聚光灯、社交媒体和公开演讲来实现实质性的推广。

The completion of this project will boost human knowledge of biological evolution through the study of animal weapons. Understanding evolution is essential for figuring out solutions to modern problems such as antibiotic resistance, a major problem in medicine, and for understanding how life on our planet became so diverse and how it will change next. Animal weapons including such intriguing structures as horns on bighorn sheep, antlers on deer, and tusks on elephants, have fascinated people for centuries. The earliest-known human paintings show wild animals fighting with weapons. In spite of the interest these structures have attracted, understanding of weapon diversity is in its infancy. This project will increase understanding of why even closely-related species can have profoundly different weapons. Simultaneously, it will provide important insights into why other shapes and forms in nature can be so variable. Data and specimens collected as part of this project will be stored in scientific archives and museums, where they will be shared freely with other researchers for use in future projects. This project will also contribute directly to the science education of more than two hundred college students. These students will learn how to do science and to recognize that science is a process, not just a collection of facts. The researchers will also interact and share their results with the general public through blogs, presentations, and student-made videos about experiences doing science.The diverse traits resulting from sexual selection offer outstanding opportunities for understanding the evolutionary interactions between behavior and morphology. It is now well established that mate choice and male-male competition can select for differences in the sizes of ornaments and weapons. However the evolution of the shape of these traits is more puzzling. Why has such shape diversity evolved? In the case of animal weapons, habitat-driven changes in male-male competitive behavior are hypothesized to be a central factor. However, explicit tests of this hypothesis are virtually nonexistent. This project will examine the roles of fighting behavior, ecology, and function in the evolution of weapon shape, capitalizing on the extreme weapon shape diversity and myriad of fighting styles in leaf-footed bugs (Hemiptera: Coreidae) to address the long-standing puzzle of weapon shape diversity. Methods include experimental selection analyses, finite element analysis, phylogenetics, and ancestral state reconstructions. The successful completion of this project will offer an unprecedented analysis of the evolutionary interplay between behavior and morphology, using the medium of weaponry. Data and specimens will be stored and shared with other scientists through international archives, including NCBI, DRYAD, and the Florida Museum of Natural History. Over 200 undergraduates will contribute to the completion of this project through Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CURE), and curricular materials developed for this purpose will be shared with other educators through workshops and publications. Training in the integration of research and education will also be provided to a postdoctoral researcher, graduate students, and undergraduates. Substantial outreach will be accomplished through the production of short videos by students, blogs, research spotlights, social media, and public presentations.