Collaborative Research: Brain Size, Metabolism, and Sociality in Ants

合作研究：蚂蚁的大脑大小、新陈代谢和社交性

• 批准号: 1953419
• 负责人: Jon Harrison
• 金额: $ 59.79万
• 依托单位: Arizona State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-06-15 至 2025-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1953419&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Brain; Size; Metabolism

The brain is an extraordinarily complex organ that generates behavior. Understanding brain size, structure, and function are among the most important frontiers of science. Brain size is considered to be influenced by social life, but the relationship is unclear. The research will address two significant questions: how does the brain change with body size, and how is brain function affected by the social nature of species. These questions will be addressed by comparing different species of ants, which are remarkably variable in size and social life. Ant brain sizes will be computed using a novel method and a new highly sensitive technique will allow energy use in individual brains to be measured. By comparing colonies that exhibit large size and division of labor with less socially complex small colonies, the effects of social life on brain size and energy use can be understood. Broad insights into the factors that affect brain evolution in all animals, including humans, will be gained. The project will train the next generation of scientists to become skilled in research, and will engage teachers and students to improve the experience of K-12 science education. The science curriculum of students from underrepresented groups and diverse minorities at the Laboratory Schools of the University of Chicago and Boston-, Phoenix-, and Providence-area schools will be enriched. The project will broadly address critical national needs to improve science literacy and inspire career choices that will enhance the global competitiveness of the United States.The hypothesis that complex social life selects for increased brain size and adaptive compartmental allometries to neurally support behavior is controversial and continues to be tested and debated. Importantly, the energetic cost of operating the brain is virtually unknown. Eusocial insects offer excellent models to address these questions of brain evolution. The PIs will robustly sample brain size, scaling, and metabolism in ant species that range widely in social complexity (colony size, physical caste) and worker body size to test the hypothesis that the energetics of ant brain tissue are independent of worker body size, morphological caste, or species, and thus scale in direct proportion to brain size. Scaling relationships of brain size and metabolism - and metabolic rates of brain regions that have social functions - with worker body size and colony size will be assessed. Respiration rates of individual worker brains and individual workers will be measured to determine the integrative physiological principles governing the evolution of brain size, structure, and function in the context of ant social evolution. Employing an integrated workflow connecting labs between research and primarily undergraduate institutions, brain templates from confocal images will be computationally constructed to automate and thus rapidly quantify brain size and structure. Scaling relationships of functionally differentiated brain regions and estimates of brain and body metabolic rates will be determined.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.

大脑是产生行为的非常复杂的器官。了解大脑的大小，结构和功能是科学最重要的前沿。 大脑大小被认为受社会生活的影响，但这种关系尚不清楚。该研究将解决两个重要的问题：大脑如何随体大小而变化，以及大脑功能如何受物种的社会性质影响。 这些问题将通过比较不同种类的蚂蚁来解决，这些蚂蚁的规模和社交生活差异很大。将使用一种新方法计算蚂蚁脑大小，并且一种新的高度敏感技术将允许测量单个大脑的能量使用。 通过比较表现出较大劳动力和劳动力分裂的殖民地与社会复杂的小殖民地，社会生活对脑大小和能量使用的影响可以理解。 将获得对影响所有动物（包括人类）大脑进化的因素的广泛见解。 该项目将培训下一代科学家，以熟练研究，并将吸引教师和学生改善K-12科学教育的经验。 来自芝加哥大学和波士顿大学，凤凰城和普罗维登斯 - 地区学校的实验室学校的学生的科学课程将得到丰富。该项目将广泛地满足国家的关键需求，以提高科学素养并激发职业选择，从而增强美国的全球竞争力。该假设是，复杂的社会生活选择增加了大脑规模和对神经支持行为的适应性隔室异构，并有争议，并继续进行测试和辩论。 重要的是，操作大脑的充满活力的成本实际上是未知的。 Eusocial昆虫提供了出色的模型来解决这些大脑进化问题。 PI将在社会复杂性（菌落大小，身体种姓）和工人体型中广泛范围的蚂蚁物种中稳健地采样大脑的大小，缩放和代谢，以检验以下假设：蚂蚁脑组织的能量与工人体大小，形态学种姓或物种无关，因此与大脑大小成比例。 将评估大脑大小和代谢的关系 - 具有社会功能的大脑区域的代谢率 - 将评估工人体型和菌落大小。 将测量个别工人的大脑和个体工人的呼吸率，以确定在蚂蚁社会进化的背景下，管理大脑大小，结构和功能演变的综合生理原理。 通过研究和主要是本科机构之间的集成工作流连接实验室，将在共聚焦图像中进行计算构建以自动化并迅速量化脑大小和结构。 将确定功能差异化的大脑区域和大脑和身体代谢率的估计的缩放关系。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响来通过评估来支持的。