Collaborative Research: EAGER: Characterizing a Novel Turbulence-generating System to Facilitate Exploration of Insect Orientation Behavior Under Real-world Conditions

合作研究：EAGER：表征新型湍流生成系统，以促进现实条件下昆虫定向行为的探索

• 批准号: 2132727
• 负责人: Marcus Hultmark
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: Princeton University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-01 至 2023-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2132727&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; EAGER; Characterizing; Novel

This project, a collaboration between a biologist and an engineer, will develop and test an innovative device to control and reproduce airflows in a wind tunnel to mimic those found in environments inhabited by flying insects. Odors or other similar signals are transported on air currents and form trails that many animals use to locate critical resources such as food, mates, and shelter. Current understanding of the behavior of flying insects in response to these cues has been garnered from studies in laboratory wind tunnels with steady, smooth flows. However, the wind conditions that occur in natural habitats are not uniform but instead are highly variable and turbulent. As such, understanding the strategies employed by flying insects as they orient and locate sources of airborne cues is incomplete. This project addresses this gap by characterizing turbulent flows in the field, refining the design of a novel airflow control device and testing it with insects navigating turbulent flows within a wind tunnel. Design and construction details of the airflow control device will be made available to the scientific community to facilitate new research aimed at elucidating the orientation tactics of other flying animals. New insights from studies using this technology may lead to improved control of important disease vectors (mosquitoes) and agricultural pests (moths), as well the performance of other flying animals. The proposed research project will provide interdisciplinary training for students and generate relevant curricular materials that highlight the interdisciplinary nature of the work for students in grades 6-12. For many animals, passive scalars such as odors, carbon dioxide, humidity, and heat are critical signals distributed in the environment according to turbulent dynamics of the fluid into which they are emitted. Currently, there is a significant deficiency in knowledge regarding the behavioral mechanisms utilized by flying insects in locating sources of such cues. This gap exists because virtually all previous studies have been conducted over relatively small distances in laminar-flow wind tunnel experiments where turbulence is minimized with attendant effects on scalar distribution. To bridge this gap, it will be necessary to develop an experimental set-up that enables the creation and control of turbulent wind conditions in the laboratory. The collaborative project will develop an innovative active grid system for the controlled and reproducible generation of turbulence tailored to conditions encountered in natural and built environments inhabited by two different exemplar insects (moths and mosquitoes). In order to accomplish this goal, turbulent conditions that occur in the field when insects are responding to relevant scalar cues will be characterized. Through the measurement of temperature and other passive scalars such as odors and carbon dioxide, the scope of turbulent plume structures generated by the active grid in a wind tunnel will be evaluated and tuned to the range determined from field measurements. The project will support two graduate students and one undergraduate researcher each year, who will be exposed to an inter-disciplinary research environment within the two collaborating laboratories. In addition, curriculum-appropriate materials about insect flight and behavior will be developed for grade 6-12 students and disseminated virtually.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.

该项目是生物学家与工程师之间的合作，将开发和测试一种创新的设备，以控制和重现风洞中的气流，以模仿飞行昆虫居住的环境中发现的气流。气味或其他类似的信号是在气流上运输的，并形成许多动物用于定位关键资源（例如食物，伴侣和庇护所）的小径。目前，对这些提示的飞行昆虫行为的理解已从稳定，光滑的流动量的实验室风隧道的研究中获得。但是，自然栖息地中发生的风条件不是均匀的，而是高度可变和湍流。因此，了解飞行昆虫在定向和定位空气传播线索时采用的策略是不完整的。该项目通过表征田野中的湍流，完善新型气流控制装置的设计，并用昆虫在风隧道内导航湍流进行测试，从而解决了这一差距。气流控制装置的设计和施工细节将提供给科学界，以促进旨在阐明其他飞行动物的取向策略的新研究。使用该技术的研究的新见解可能会改善对重要疾病媒介（蚊子）和农业害虫（飞蛾）的控制，以及其他飞行动物的表现。拟议的研究项目将为学生提供跨学科培训，并生成相关的课程材料，以突出6 - 12年级的学生的作品跨学科性质。对于许多动物而言，根据发出的流体的湍流动力学，诸如气味，二氧化碳，湿度和热量等被动标量是在环境中分布的关键信号。当前，关于飞行昆虫在定位此类提示来源中使用的行为机制的知识存在很大的知识。之所以存在这一差距，是因为实际上所有以前的研究都是在层流风洞实验中相对较小的距离进行的，在这些实验中，湍流最小化，对标量分布的影响最小。为了弥合这一差距，有必要开发实验设置，以实现实验室中的湍流条件的创建和控制。该协作项目将开发一种创新的主动网格系统，用于针对在自然和建筑环境中遇到的条件下量身定制的湍流，这些湍流是由两种不同的示例昆虫（飞蛾和蚊子）居住的。为了实现这一目标，将表征昆虫对相关标量提示响应的田野中发生的湍流条件。通过测量温度和其他被动标量（例如气味和二氧化碳），将评估由风隧道中活性网格产生的湍流羽状结构的范围，并将其调整为根据现场测量确定的范围。该项目将每年支持两名研究生和一名本科研究人员，他们将在两个合作实验室内的跨学科研究环境中接触。此外，将针对6至12年级的学生开发有关昆虫飞行和行为的适合课程的材料，并实际上是分发的。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影响的评估标准来通过评估来支持的。