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

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.

在环境中运动是大多数动物的基本特征（例如跑步、游泳、飞行），动物执行此任务的机制对进化的成功具有直接影响，因为运动涉及防御、寻找配偶和觅食以有效的方式。几个世纪以来，生物力学研究为开发和测试各种假设奠定了基础，从陆地运动的一般控制原理到四肢和肌肉的形式与功能之间的特定关系。然而，这些研究绝大多数是在实验室的跑步机和跑道上进行的，与动物实际生活的环境几乎没有相似之处。要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，有必要了解动物在自然环境中执行的任务的机械要求。了解自然栖息地中的这些关系仍然是一个重要的挑战。因此，本研究的目标是通过一系列实验来检查解剖结构和运动表现之间的关系，旨在详细了解不同的肌肉如何促进运动任务。实验将揭示肌肉和骨骼的特定特征如何影响特定肌肉在具有机械挑战性的自然环境中运动时的功能。这项研究的结果将增进对个体肌肉功能作用的了解，这是比较生物力学研究中很少见的主题，并为更好地理解机械能如何通过复杂的肌肉骨骼系统传递奠定基础。这些知识的应用可以改进自主机器人、下肢假肢和其他人类运动增强装置的设计。本研究的目的是利用沙漠袋鼠大鼠阐明沙漠环境中肌肉骨骼形态和双足跳跃动力学之间的关系（D. Deserti）作为动物模型。人们普遍认为，双足跳跃的进化是因为它提供了与夸张的后肢形态相关的运动性能优势（例如更快的最高速度、更高的耐力、加速能力）；然而，尚未确定所有跳跃物种都有特定的优势。为了实现拟议的目标，本研究将结合对现场栖息地使用、实验室步态动力学、体内肌肉动力学以及详细的计算机建模和模拟的分析。这将是第一项将所有这些方法结合起来的研究，以全面了解肌肉骨骼形态和性能之间的关系。这种强大的综合方法将用于实现两个具体的研究目标：1）量化双足跳跃对自然环境中 D. Deserti 使用的基质和地形的机械需求，2）阐明肌肉骨骼形态和栖息地利用之间的关系。拟议研究的结果将以一种以前不可能的方式建立自然条件下的运动表现与肌肉骨骼形态和肌肉功能之间的直接联系。对动物跳跃的方式和原因的深入了解将推动进化生物学、比较解剖学和生物力学领域的发展，并导致自主机器人、下肢假肢和其他运动增强设备设计的改进。该提案支持一项教育计划，开发一门实地课程，为学生提供机会，通过对栖息地利用、功能形态和行为的研究驱动、基于实地的分析，整合他们所学到的生态学和进化知识。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。