Project Abstract
Biomimetic Evolutionary Analysis:
The Origin of Vertebrae via Computational and Robotic Simulations of Fish
PI: John Long, Department of Biology, Vassar College.
coPI: Thomas Koob, Skeletal Biology, Shriners Hospital for Children, Tampa.
coPI: Chun Wai Liew, Department of Computer Science, Lafayette College.
coPI: Robert Root, Department of Mathematics, Lafayette College.
Research funded by the National Science Foundation (award DBI-0442269 from the CRUI program).
While most living fishes and tetrapods have vertebrae with hard centra articulated by intervertebral joints or discs, several groups possess an unjointed, continuously-flexible notochord. Since we know from the fossil record that notochords evolved before centra, and that centra evolved repeatedly, we ask - what kinds of selection pressures repeatedly drove the evolution of centra? Knowing that vertebrae stiffen the axial skeleton, many predict that vertebrae evolved for enhanced mechanical efficiency and versatility of swimming.
We have three objectives:
(1) test the hypothesis that
centra evolved to enhance mechanical efficiency and versatility of swimming;
(2) integrate and innovate
techniques from mathematics, computer science, biorobotics, and biomaterials to
create biologically-inspired digital and robotic animals ("animats");
(3) develop biomimetic evolutionary analysis, an extension of the field of artificial life, in which we evolve the organ-level systems of swimming animats in order to test evolutionary hypotheses.
We anticipate that the different digital and robotic evolutionary environments will select for divergent axial skeleton phenotypes. If, instead, axial skeletons converge on similar forms, that result will support the contention that a single best solution exists for the mechanical evolution of axial skeletons.
Our educational goal is to provide undergraduates with intensive research experiences deemed critical by the National Research Council (BIO2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists). We have designed a two-year collaborative apprenticeship-mentorship experience for four consecutive groups of seven rising juniors at Vassar and Lafayette Colleges.
We seek to:
(1) train
and inspire undergraduates, particularly those from underrepresented groups, to
creatively apply mathematics, computer science, robotics, and biomaterials to
the investigation of animal function and evolution;
(2) extend our collaborative
research program from the study of fish locomotion and biomechanics to the testing
of evolutionary hypotheses using biologically-based robotic and digital
animats; and
(3) create new research tools for biologists.