CAREER: Principles of Firefly Rhythmic Synchronization

职业：萤火虫节律同步原理

• 批准号: 2239331
• 负责人: Orit Peleg
• 金额: $ 90万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-07-01 至 2028-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2239331&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Principles; Firefly; Rhythmic; Synchronization

Biological communication in large animal groups is often accompanied by immense noise levels due to the presence of multiple signals and interference from the environment. One common way to deal with noise is to synchronize the signals, so that individuals signal in unison. Communication in well-studied synchronous animal groups across a broad range of organisms (frogs, fish, birds, and primates) is characterized by complex signals. In contrast, the PI will work with a tractable model system of firefly swarms where communication signals are visual, in the form of approximately digital light flashes, and visually traceable in three dimensions, even throughout large swarms of motile individuals. The PI will combine field and lab experiments with physical and information-theoretic theories for signal synchronization, using firefly swarms as a model system. This will enable fundamental advances in our understanding of communication strategies and enable the PI to integrate models and experiments across a wide range of length and time scales. The PI will focus on fundamental aspects of signal synchronization. The PI will use innovative field-recording technologies for fireflies and Virtual Reality (VR) systems to obtain quantitative spatiotemporal recordings of firefly flashes and test hypotheses about synchronous communication by exposing the fireflies to carefully designed visual stimulus. These information-rich datasets will facilitate the development and validation of agent-based models of possible underlying mechanisms. In turn, modeling can provide feedback on experiment design and serve as a tool to design VR stimuli whose responses will either validate or disprove a given hypothesis. This interwoven theory-experiment approach will allow an unprecedented level of model validation via simultaneous refinement of both models and experiments until the underlying principles are extracted and clarified. The same approach will directly inform the PI's educational goals as they develop a class that will engage students in concepts of animal communication via visualization of computational and experimental data. Therefore, this CAREER award will fundamentally advance the PI's long-term goals by providing insight into the principles that enable synchronization and incorporating the acquired firefly data in STEM education.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.

大型动物群体中的生物通信通常伴有大量噪声水平，这是由于存在多个信号和来自环境的干扰。处理噪声的一种常见方法是同步信号，以使个人一致发出信号。在广泛的生物（青蛙，鱼类，鸟类和灵长类动物）中进行良好的同步动物群体的交流的特征是复杂的信号。相比之下，PI将与萤火虫群的可操作模型系统一起使用，该模型系统以近似数字光闪光灯为视觉信号，并且在三维中，即使在大量的大量摩托车个体中也可以在视觉上进行可追溯。 PI将使用Firefly Swarms作为模型系统将场和实验室实验与物理和信息理论理论相结合，用于信号同步。这将使我们能够理解沟通策略的基本进步，并使PI能够整合跨长度和时间尺度的模型和实验。 PI将专注于信号同步的基本方面。 PI将使用创新的现场录制技术来用于萤火虫和虚拟现实（VR）系统，以获取萤火虫闪光的定量时空记录，并通过将萤火虫暴露于精心设计的视觉刺激上，以实现同步通信的测试假设。这些信息丰富的数据集将促进基于代理的潜在机制模型的开发和验证。反过来，建模可以提供有关实验设计的反馈，并用作设计VR刺激的工具，其响应将验证或反驳给定的假设。这种交织的理论实验方法将通过同时完善模型和实验来实现前所未有的模型验证，直到提取并澄清基本原理为止。同样的方法将直接为PI的教育目标提供信息，因为他们会通过可视化计算和实验数据来吸引学生参与动物交流的概念。因此，该职业奖将从根本上从根本上促进PI的长期目标，以洞悉能够同步并将获得的萤火虫数据纳入STEM教育的原则。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审查标准来通过评估来支持的。