CAREER: Linking Form and Function in Fire Ant Architecture

职业：火蚁建筑中形式与功能的联系

• 批准号: 2340500
• 负责人: Jennifer Rieser
• 金额: $ 72.49万
• 依托单位: Emory University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-08-01 至 2029-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2340500&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Linking; Form; Function; Fire

Red imported fire ants are robust and adaptable social insects that excavate large below-ground nests composed of dense networks of tunnels and chambers (a large colony can contain hundreds of thousands of ants, and a large nest can be several feet deep). These ants are highly invasive; originally native to Brazil, they have been inadvertently transported via ships across the globe and have established footholds in North and Central America, several Caribbean islands, Asia, Australia, and have very recently (as of September 2023) been found in Europe. Studies over the past several decades have noted their significant negative impacts on the health and diversity of local wildlife (including crops and livestock) and their great potential for further expansion, making them the focus of many failed eradication attempts since their introduction into the US nearly 100 years ago. While nests are crucial for a colony's survival, nest size and soil opacity have prevented detailed investigation or theoretical understanding. In this project, the PI will use experimental and computational techniques to establish links between the nest structures, functions, and organization in the red imported fire ant by focusing on the following questions: (1) what can be inferred about below-ground nest structures from above-ground dynamics? (2) how are subterranean nests organized? and (3) how do environmental factors influence subterranean nest networks? A new experimental technique developed in the PI’s laboratory will provide, for the first time, spatially resolved quantification of the internal structure and organization within large-scale natural and lab-created nests. Though most of the nest is below-ground, a mound is created atop the nest through the repeated placement of soil pellets above ground. A custom-built surface scanner provides quantitative three-dimensional data of the above-ground mound formation dynamics that accompany nest construction. This combined approach provides the first ever data of this kind and will help elucidate the physical and biological principles underlying natural nest construction, organization, and adaptability in a highly successful species of master builders. This project will also support a newly established outreach partnership with The Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta will actively engage young girls, a traditionally underrepresented group in physics, in exciting concepts, techniques, and results at the interface of physics and biology.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.

红色进口的火蚂蚁是坚固且适应能力的社交昆虫，它由隧道和腔室的密集网络挖掘出大的地下巢（大型殖民地可以包含数十万个蚂蚁，并且大巢可能深度为几英尺）。这些蚂蚁是高度侵入性的。他们最初是巴西本地的，他们被无意中通过船只在全球范围内运输，并在北美和中美洲建立了食品业务，加勒比群岛，亚洲，澳大利亚，最近在欧洲发现了（截至2023年9月）。在过去的几十年中，研究指出，它们对当地野生动植物的健康和多样性（包括农作物和牲畜）的健康和多样性及其进一步扩张的巨大潜力，使它们成为自100年前引入美国以来的许多失败尝试的重点。尽管巢对于殖民地的生存至关重要，但巢的大小和土壤不透明性阻止了详细的研究或理论理解。在该项目中，PI将使用实验和计算技术来通过关注以下问题来建立巢结构，功能和组织之间的联系：（1）可以从地下地上动力学上推断出地下巢结构的内容？ （2）如何组织地下巢？ （3）环境因素如何影响地下巢网？ PI实验室中开发的一种新的实验技术将首次提供大型天然和实验室创建的巢中内部结构和组织的空间量化。尽管大多数巢都在地下，但通过在地面上方的土壤颗粒的重复放置在巢上产生了一个土墩。定制的表面扫描仪提供了发生筑巢构造的地上丘地层动力学的定量三维数据。这种合并的方法提供了有史以来的第一个数据，并将有助于阐明自然巢穴结构，组织和适应性的物理和生物学原理，并在非常成功的主要建筑商中。该项目还将支持与大亚特兰大的女童子军建立的新建立的外展伙伴关系，将积极吸引年轻女孩，这是一个传统上代表性不足的物理学，令人兴奋的概念，技术和物理学和生物学界面的成果。该奖项通过评估NSF的法定任务，并通过评估了基金会的范围，并反映了NSF的法定任务，并在宽广的知识上进行了评估。