Greater than the sum of its parts? The role of mechanical sensitivity and integration in the evolution of power-amplified systems

陷口蚁以其用口器放大能量的极端能力而闻名，这种口器可以产生比它们体重大数百倍的力量，并达到每秒60米(每小时130英里以上)的速度。此外，他们使用非常简单的抗骨折材料来做到这一点。这项研究将结合高速摄像、生物力学和数学来描述和模拟一组不同的陷口蚂蚁的功率放大过程。这些发现将提供对动物用来实现极高速度和四肢力量的机制的洞察，并确定这些高性能生物系统的变异如何产生不同的动物形态。这项研究还有可能为机器人和机械的生物启发应用提供信息。该项目将为本科生和研究生提供跨学科的研究培训机会，包括那些在STEM领域传统上代表性较低的群体。研究人员还将为儿童举办机器人夏令营，让学生接触到昆虫可以被用来为技术和工程创新提供灵感的许多方式。这项研究的目标是结合实验数据和基于计算机的生物力学模型来检查机械灵敏度和功率放大系统的集成。这些力学分析的结果将被纳入系统发育比较分析，以测试机械敏感性模式是否影响形态和生态多样性。具体地说，这项研究将利用捕捉下巴蚂蚁的能量放大的重复转换来探索性能指标(如速度、力量和能量)如何对形态变化做出反应。功率放大陷爪系统由多个部件(即肌肉、闩锁、弹簧)组成，所有这些部件对性能的几个方面(即速度、力)都可能是重要的。该项目的具体目标是1)评估陷爪系统的各种性能变量(速度、力、抗损伤能力)如何随系统组件的形态变化而变化；2)检验陷爪蚂蚁的功率放大机制来源的多个假设；以及3)确定生物力学整合模式如何影响陷爪分支内部和之间的进化模式。这种跨学科的研究方法为评估生物力学系统的整合和进化，以及生态功能如何影响形态多样性提供了一个机制框架。这些研究成果有可能为高性能机器人系统的仿生设计提供翻译应用。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Trap-jaw ants are renowned for their extreme ability to amplify power with their mouthparts, which can generate forces hundreds of times greater than their body weight and reach speeds over 60 meters per second (over 130 miles per hour). Moreover, they do this using very simple, fracture resistant materials. The research will combine high-speed videography, biomechanics, and mathematics to characterize and model power-amplification in a diverse group of trap-jaw ants. The findings will provide insight into the mechanisms animals use to achieve extremely high speeds and forces with their limbs and to determine how variation in these high-performance biological systems generates diverse animal forms. The research also has the potential to inform biologically-inspired applications for robotics and machinery. The project will provide interdisciplinary research training opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students, including those from groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields. The researchers will also run robotics summer camps for children, exposing students to the many ways insects can be used to provide inspiration for innovations in technology and engineering.The objective of this research is to examine the mechanical sensitivity and integration of power-amplified systems using a combination of experimental data and computer-based biomechanical models. The results of these mechanical analyses will be incorporated into phylogenetic comparative analyses to test whether patterns of mechanical sensitivity influence morphological and ecological diversification. Specifically, the research will take advantage of repeated transitions to power amplification in trap-jaw ants to explore how performance metrics (such as speed, force and energy) respond to shifts in morphology. The power-amplified trap-jaw system is composed of multiple components (i.e. muscle, latch, spring) all of which may be important to several aspects of performance (i.e. speed, force). The specific aims of the project are to 1) evaluate how various performance variables of the trap-jaw system (speed, force, damage resistance) vary with morphological changes in components of the system, 2) test multiple hypotheses for the source of the power-amplifying mechanism in trap-jaw ants, and 3) determine how patterns of biomechanical integration influence evolutionary patterns within and among trap-jaw clades. The interdisciplinary research approach offers a mechanistic framework for evaluating the integration and evolution of biomechanical systems, and how ecological function can influence morphological diversification. The research findings have the potential to provide translational applications for the bio-inspired design of high-performance robotic systems.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.