The completion of this project will boost human knowledge of biological evolution through the study of animal weapons. Understanding evolution is essential for figuring out solutions to modern problems such as antibiotic resistance, a major problem in medicine, and for understanding how life on our planet became so diverse and how it will change next. Animal weapons including such intriguing structures as horns on bighorn sheep, antlers on deer, and tusks on elephants, have fascinated people for centuries. The earliest-known human paintings show wild animals fighting with weapons. In spite of the interest these structures have attracted, understanding of weapon diversity is in its infancy. This project will increase understanding of why even closely-related species can have profoundly different weapons. Simultaneously, it will provide important insights into why other shapes and forms in nature can be so variable. Data and specimens collected as part of this project will be stored in scientific archives and museums, where they will be shared freely with other researchers for use in future projects. This project will also contribute directly to the science education of more than two hundred college students. These students will learn how to do science and to recognize that science is a process, not just a collection of facts. The researchers will also interact and share their results with the general public through blogs, presentations, and student-made videos about experiences doing science.
The diverse traits resulting from sexual selection offer outstanding opportunities for understanding the evolutionary interactions between behavior and morphology. It is now well established that mate choice and male-male competition can select for differences in the sizes of ornaments and weapons. However the evolution of the shape of these traits is more puzzling. Why has such shape diversity evolved? In the case of animal weapons, habitat-driven changes in male-male competitive behavior are hypothesized to be a central factor. However, explicit tests of this hypothesis are virtually nonexistent. This project will examine the roles of fighting behavior, ecology, and function in the evolution of weapon shape, capitalizing on the extreme weapon shape diversity and myriad of fighting styles in leaf-footed bugs (Hemiptera: Coreidae) to address the long-standing puzzle of weapon shape diversity. Methods include experimental selection analyses, finite element analysis, phylogenetics, and ancestral state reconstructions. The successful completion of this project will offer an unprecedented analysis of the evolutionary interplay between behavior and morphology, using the medium of weaponry. Data and specimens will be stored and shared with other scientists through international archives, including NCBI, DRYAD, and the Florida Museum of Natural History. Over 200 undergraduates will contribute to the completion of this project through Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CURE), and curricular materials developed for this purpose will be shared with other educators through workshops and publications. Training in the integration of research and education will also be provided to a postdoctoral researcher, graduate students, and undergraduates. Substantial outreach will be accomplished through the production of short videos by students, blogs, research spotlights, social media, and public presentations.
