Symposium SICB 2021 An Evolutionary Tail: EvoDevo, structure, and function of post-anal appendages.

许多动物物种都有尾巴，它们在形状和功能上有着显著的不同。它们可以是短的、长的、厚的、薄的、有羽毛的、有毛的、秃的、有刺的，甚至没有。尾巴有许多功能，包括推进、交流、下垂或晃动、平衡和抓握。然而，尽管尾巴对动物的功能和进化很重要，但与四肢相比，尾巴的研究还远远不够。关于它们的发育、形态多样性或机械功能知之甚少。该奖项支持一个跨学科的研讨会，将汇集科学家和工程师谁研究各种各样的尾巴和尾巴相关的主题在动物和机器人。它将促进和加强知识和专长的交流。本次研讨会的成果将是一个合作研讨会，将确定有关尾巴生物学的关键未回答的问题，并通过未来的研究解决这些挑战的路线图。研讨会突出了早期职业研究人员和科学界代表性不足的群体成员。与霍华德大学和综合与比较生物学协会扩大参与委员会合作，研讨会的参与者将举办一次外展活动，为来自霍华德大学和华盛顿，华盛顿特区地区其他可能的历史黑人学院和大学的学生提供网络体验。尽管在许多机器人设计中认识到功能性肛门后附件的重要性。了解尾巴是如何发育和发挥作用的有助于深入了解附肢的潜在进化意义。本次研讨会汇集了来自多个学科的研究人员，他们在这一领域的研究兴趣相对独立，从不同的角度。他们将分享关于动物和机器人尾巴的发展，形式和功能多样性的发现，并寻求推动这种附属物成功的一般原则。研讨会将促进跨学科的研究讨论，包括发育生物学，工程学，物理学和行为生物学。此外，有组织的午餐会将进一步促进采用不同模型系统的不同研究人员之间积极交流想法，概念和方法。 研讨会强调早期职业研究人员和STEM代表不足的团体，并提供指导，分享想法和概念以及发展新合作的机会。研讨会的成果将是一篇前瞻性的评论文章，将描述尾部研究的现状，并确定有可能通过跨学科合作解决的未回答的问题。本文将介绍这次会议论文的汇编在综合与比较生物学。最后，赠款将有助于支持一个外展活动集中在少数民族服务机构在华盛顿，华盛顿特区该奖项反映了国家科学基金会的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

Non-Technical AbstractMany animal species have tails, which are remarkably diverse in shape and function. They can be short, long, thick, thin, feathered, hairy, bald, spiked, or even absent. Tails can serve many functions, including propulsion, communication, flagging or rattling, balancing, and grasping. However, although tails are important to animal function and evolution, compared to limbs, tails are vastly understudied. Relatively little is known about their development, morphological diversity, or mechanical function. This award supports a cross-disciplinary symposium that will bring together scientists and engineers who study a wide variety of tail and tail-related topics in animals and robots. It will facilitate and enhance exchange of knowledge and expertise. The outcomes of this symposium will be a collaborative workshop that will identify critical unanswered questions concerning the biology of tails and a roadmap for addressing these challenges through future research. The symposium highlights early-career researchers and members of groups under-represented in the sciences. In partnership with Howard University and the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology Broadening Participation Committee, participants in the symposium will host an outreach event to provide a networking experience for students from Howard University and potentially other Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the Washington, D.C. area.Technical AbstractAlthough diverse and common among animals, tails are vastly understudied structures, even though the importance of a functional post-anal appendage is recognized in many robotic designs. Understanding how tails develop and function contributes insight to potential evolutionary significance of the appendage. This symposium brings together investigators from multiple disciplines with research interests in this area who have worked relatively independently, from distinct perspectives. They will share findings on the diversity of development, form, and functions of tails - in animals and robots – and seek general principles that have driven the success of this appendage. The symposium will facilitate cross-disciplinary research discussions among fields including developmental biology, engineering, physics, and behavioral biology. In addition, an organized luncheon will further facilitate the active exchange of ideas, concepts, and approaches among diverse researchers who employ different model systems. The symposium emphasizes early-career researchers and groups under-represented in STEM, and provides opportunities for mentoring, sharing of ideas and concepts, and development of new collaborations. The outcomes of the symposium will be a forward-looking review article that will delineate the current state of tail research and identify the unanswered questions with potential to be addressed by interdisciplinary collaborations. This review article will introduce the compilation of this symposium’s papers in Integrative and Comparative Biology. Finally, the grant will help support an outreach event centered on Minority Serving Institutions in the region of Washington, D.C.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.