CAREER: Establishing Links between Musculoskeletal Morphology and the Biomechanics of Bipedal Hopping in Desert Environments

职业：建立肌肉骨骼形态与沙漠环境中双足跳跃生物力学之间的联系

• 批准号: 2114591
• 负责人: Craig McGowan
• 金额: $ 111.1万
• 依托单位: University of Southern California
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2023-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2114591&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Establishing; Links; between; Musculoskeletal; CAREER; Establishing; Links; between; Musculoskeletal

Movement through their environments is a fundamental characteristic of most animals, (e.g., running, swimming, flying) and the mechanics of how animals perform this task have direct implications for evolutionary success because locomotion is involved with defense, finding mates, and foraging for food in efficient ways. For centuries, biomechanics research has provided a foundation for developing and testing hypotheses ranging from general governing principles of terrestrial locomotion to specific relationships between form and function of limbs and muscles. However, the vast majority of these studies have been conducted in laboratories on treadmills and tracks that bear little resemblance to the environments in which animals actually live. To truly understand the relationship between an animal's muscular and skeletal anatomy and locomotor performance, it is necessary to understand the mechanical demands of the tasks performed in the animal's natural environment. Understanding these relationships in natural habitats remains an important challenge. Therefore, the goal of this study is to examine the relationships between anatomy and locomotor performance through a series of experiments aimed at understanding in detail how different muscles contribute to movement tasks. Experiments will reveal how specific features of muscles and skeletons impact the function of particular muscles during locomotion in mechanically challenging natural environments. The outcomes of this research will advance knowledge about the functional roles of individual muscles, a topic that is rare in comparative biomechanics studies, and lay the groundwork for a better understanding of how mechanical energy is transferred through complex musculoskeletal systems. Application of this knowledge can lead to improvements in the design of autonomous robots, lower limb prosthetics, and other human locomotor enhancement devices.The purpose of this research is to elucidate the relationships between musculoskeletal morphology and bipedal hopping dynamics in desert environments using desert kangaroo rats (D. deserti) as an animal model. It is generally believed that bipedal hopping has evolved because it provides a locomotor performance advantage (e.g., faster top speed, higher endurance, acceleration capacity) related to exaggerated hind limb morphology; however a specific advantage has not been identified for all hopping species. To achieve the proposed objectives, this study will incorporate analyses of habitat use in the field, gait dynamics in the lab, in-vivo muscle dynamics and detailed computer modeling and simulations. This will be the first study to combine all of these methods to provide a comprehensive understanding of the relationships between musculoskeletal morphology and performance. This powerful, integrated approach will be used to pursue two specific research objectives: 1) Quantify the mechanical demands of bipedal hopping on substrates and terrain utilized by D. deserti in their natural environment and, 2) Elucidate the relationship between musculoskeletal morphology and habitat use. The outcomes of the proposed research will establish direct links between locomotor performance under natural conditions and musculoskeletal morphology and muscle function in a way that has not been previously possible. An enhanced understanding of how and why animals hop will advance the fields of evolutionary biology, comparative anatomy, and biomechanics, and lead to improvements in the design of autonomous robots, lower limb prosthetics, and other locomotor enhancement devices. This proposal supports an Educational Plan to develop a field course to provide an opportunity for students to integrate what they have learned about ecology and evolution through research-driven, field-based analyses of habitat use, functional morphology, and behavior. Data for behavior and habitat use from multiple years of this course will provide a broader context for interpreting morphological and biomechanical results.

通过环境的运动是大多数动物（例如，跑步，游泳，飞行）的基本特征，动物如何执行此任务的机制对进化成功具有直接影响，因为运动与防御，寻找伴侣并以有效的方式觅食。几个世纪以来，生物力学研究为开发和检验的假设提供了基础，从一般的陆地运动原理到四肢和肌肉的形式和功能之间的特定关系。但是，这些研究中的绝大多数是在实验室上进行的跑步机和轨道，与动物实际生活的环境几乎没有相似之处。为了真正了解动物的肌肉和骨骼解剖结构与运动性能之间的关系，有必要了解动物自然环境中执行的任务的机械需求。在自然栖息地中了解这些关系仍然是一个重要的挑战。因此，这项研究的目的是通过一系列旨在详细了解不同肌肉如何促进运动任务的实验来检查解剖学和运动性能之间的关系。实验将揭示肌肉和骨骼的特定特征如何影响机械挑战性自然环境中运动过程中特定肌肉的功能。这项研究的结果将促进有关单个肌肉的功能作用的知识，这个主题在比较生物力学研究中很少见，并为更好地理解如何通过复杂的肌肉骨骼系统传递机械能的基础。这种知识的应用可以改善自主机器人，下肢假体和其他人类运动增强设备的设计。这项研究的目的是阐明使用沙漠袋鼠大鼠（D. Deserti）作为动物模型的沙漠环境中沙漠环境中肌肉骨骼骨骼骨骼形态与双皮亚肌肉跳动之间的关系。人们普遍认为，两足动物跳跃已经发展，因为它具有与夸大的后肢形态相关的运动性能优势（例如，最高速度，更高的耐力，加速能力）；但是，尚未确定所有跳跃物种的特定优势。为了实现拟议的目标，本研究将结合现场中栖息地使用的分析，实验室中的步态动力学，体内肌肉动力学以及详细的计算机建模和仿真。这将是第一项结合所有这些方法的研究，以全面了解肌肉骨骼形态与性能之间的关系。这种强大的，综合的方法将用于追求两个特定的研究目标：1）量化D. d. d. d. d. d. d. d. d. d. d. d. d. d. d. d. d. d. d. d。systrates and Terrain的机械需求，以及2）阐明肌肉骨骼骨骼的形态和生境使用之间的关系。拟议的研究的结果将在自然条件下的运动性能与肌肉骨骼形态和肌肉功能之间建立直接联系，以先前无法实现的方式。对动物如何和为什么会发展进化生物学，比较解剖学和生物力学领域的了解，并导致自主机器人，下肢假体和其他运动增强设备的设计改善。该建议支持一项教育计划，以制定现场课程，为学生提供机会，通过研究驱动的，基于现场的栖息地使用，功能形态和行为来整合他们对生态和进化的知识。本课程多年的行为和栖息地使用数据将为解释形态和生物力学结果提供更广泛的背景。