RoL:FELS:RAISE: Integrating Statistical Physics and Nonlinear Dynamics to Understand Emergent Synchrony and Phase Transitions in Biological Systems

这项研究将使用统计物理学的想法来检查生物系统中跨空间向同步(事件一致运行)的转变。物理学中的工具主要是用来解释磁性如何从小尺度的排列中大规模产生的，将被用来为同步的出现开发与细节无关的解释。这项工作旨在确定管理信息传播或生物系统变化的一般规则，从短距离相互作用到大范围，重点是生态系统。这一类现象的范围从捕食者和猎物系统中振荡的跨空间同步到大脑中神经活动的动态同步。同步性与灭绝风险密切相关，这可能是有益的(如在流行病耗尽中)，也可能是有害的(如对受威胁的物种)。同样，同步神经动力学可能会对人类健康产生重大影响。这项工作解决了生命科学中的几个基本问题：确定具有最近邻耦合的相同生物振荡器中的同步模式的一般规则是什么？异质性和系统规模如何影响控制耦合生物振荡器中同步的出现和维持的规则？空间或时间上随机决定的效应的相关性如何影响耦合生物振荡器中同步的出现和维持？该项目将涉及本科生、研究生和博士后级别的初级研究人员。研究人员计划组织一个跨学科的研讨会，其中将包括生态学、物理学以及其他生物学领域的领先和初级研究人员。该项目旨在之前的研究基础上，证明理论物理的二维伊辛模型中的转换映射到晶格上的空间种群动态模型，并可用于解释开心果果园中单个树木跨空间和时间的产量数据。该项目的目标是阐明一种独立于细节的解释，以解释在生物系统的许多尺度上普遍存在的跨空间同步。然而，真实的生物系统具有显著的异质性，因此本工作的目的是建立在Ising模型的扩展和修改的基础上，以及研究其他模型。这项工作将依赖于对统计物理模型的广泛模拟和分析。寻找与细节无关的大规模同步动力学的普遍解释的总体目标将促进对生态系统以及一系列其他生物系统的理解。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。

This research will use ideas from statistical physics to examine the transitions to synchrony (events operating in unison) across space in biological systems. Tools in physics developed primarily to explain how magnetism arises at large scale from alignment at small scale will be employed to develop detail-independent explanations for the emergence of synchrony. The work aims to determine general rules that govern the propagation of information or changes in biological systems from short-range interactions to large scales, with an emphasis on ecological systems. Phenomena in this category range from synchrony across space of oscillations in predator and prey systems to synchrony in dynamics of neural activity in the brain. Synchrony is strongly linked to extinction risk, which may either be beneficial (as in epidemic burnout) or detrimental (as for threatened species). Similarly, synchronous neural dynamics may have large implications for human health. This work addresses several fundamental questions in the life sciences: What are general rules that determine patterns of synchrony in identical biological oscillators with nearest-neighbor coupling? How do heterogeneities and system size affect the rules governing the appearance and maintenance of synchrony in coupled biological oscillators? How do correlations in randomly-determined effects across space or time affect the appearance and maintenance of synchrony in coupled biological oscillators? The project will involve junior researchers at the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels. The investigators plan to organize an interdisciplinary workshop that will include leading and junior researchers in ecology and physics as well as other areas of biology.This project aims to build upon previous research demonstrating that the transitions in the two-dimensional Ising model of theoretical physics map onto models of spatial population dynamics on a lattice and can be used to explain data for the yield of individual trees across space and time in a pistachio orchard. The goal of the project is to elucidate a detail-independent explanation for the synchrony across space that is prevalent at many scales of biological systems. However, real biological systems have significant heterogeneities, so this work aims both to build on extensions and modifications of the Ising model as well as to investigate other models. The work will depend on extensive simulations and analysis of models from statistical physics. The overall goal of finding detail-independent universal explanations of large-scale synchronous dynamics will advance understanding of ecological systems as well as a range of other biological 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.