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.

该项目是生物学家和工程师之间的合作，将开发和测试一种创新设备，用于控制和重现风洞中的气流，以模仿飞行昆虫居住环境中的气流。气味或其他类似的信号通过气流传播并形成踪迹，许多动物利用这些踪迹来寻找食物、配偶和住所等重要资源。目前对飞行昆虫响应这些线索的行为的了解是通过实验室风洞中稳定、平稳流动的研究获得的。然而，自然栖息地中发生的风况并不均匀，而是高度多变且动荡。因此，了解飞行昆虫在定向和定位空中线索来源时所采用的策略是不完整的。该项目通过表征现场湍流、改进新型气流控制装置的设计并用昆虫在风洞内导航湍流来测试它，从而弥补了这一差距。气流控制装置的设计和构造细节将向科学界开放，以促进旨在阐明其他飞行动物的定向策略的新研究。使用该技术的研究的新见解可能会改善对重要病媒（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，并生成相关课程材料，突出 6-12 年级学生工作的跨学科性质。对于许多动物来说，气味、二氧化碳、湿度和热量等被动标量是根据它们所进入的流体的湍流动力学分布在环境中的关键信号。目前，关于飞虫在定位此类线索来源时所利用的行为机制的知识存在严重缺乏。之所以存在这种差距，是因为实际上所有先前的研究都是在层流风洞实验中在相对较小的距离上进行的，其中湍流被最小化，并对标量分布产生了随之而来的影响。为了弥补这一差距，有必要开发一种实验装置，能够在实验室中创建和控制湍流风条件。该合作项目将开发一种创新的主动网格系统，用于根据两种不同典型昆虫（飞蛾和蚊子）栖息的自然和建筑环境中遇到的条件，控制和可重复地生成湍流。为了实现这一目标，将描述昆虫对相关标量信号做出反应时田间发生的湍流条件。通过测量温度和其他被动标量（例如气味和二氧化碳），将评估风洞中主动网格产生的湍流羽流结构的范围，并将其调整到现场测量确定的范围。该项目每年将支持两名研究生和一名本科生研究人员，他们将接触两个合作实验室内的跨学科研究环境。此外，将为 6-12 年级的学生开发适合课程的有关昆虫飞行和行为的材料，并以虚拟方式传播。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。