Cenozoic Vertebrate Paleontology and Biogeography of the West Indies

西印度群岛新生代脊椎动物古生物学和生物地理学

基本信息

批准号：
9020002
负责人：
Ross MacPhee
金额：
$ 10.71万
依托单位：
American Museum Natural History
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
1991
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
1991-08-15 至 1996-07-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9020002&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Cenozoic Vertebrate Paleontology Biogeography West

项目摘要

This project is designed to evaluate competing models of biogeography of freshwater fishes and land vertebrates in the Caribbean islands. Its novel aspect is that it will emphasize data from two sources that are critical to the problem, but which have been neglected: the Tertiary fossil record and the island of Cuba. The investigators' recent successes in discovering Tertiary vertebrates in the West Indies demonstrate that a significant and relevant fossil record can be recovered. Cuba is of particular importance because this island constitutes one-third of the land surface of the Antilles, yet its biota is known in only a rudimentary way. To maximize results, the investigators will prospect for fossils in both Quaternary and Tertiary contexts in Hispaniola and Cuba. Major goals are (1) to increase sample sizes of poorly known taxa and to prospect for heretofore unknown taxa; (2) to begin a program of dating to document when the Quaternary fauna of large animals went extinct; (3) to establish the nature of pre-Quaternary biodiversity in the Greater Antilles; (4) to utilize ancient biodiversity as a means for evaluating the comparative importance of dispersal and vicariance (i.e., plate tectonic events) in formation of the Antillean fauna; and (5) to develop human resources in the Dominican Republic in order to enhance local ability to study and conserve biodiversity. These goals are complementary to the investigators' general program of investigating causes and consequences of reduction in biodiversity on island and in islandlike settings.

该项目旨在评估加勒比群岛中淡水鱼和陆地脊椎动物的生物地理模型的竞争模型。它的新方面是，它将强调来自两个对问题至关重要但已被忽视的数据的数据：第三纪化石记录和古巴岛。研究人员最近在西印度群岛发现大三级脊椎动物的成功表明，可以回收重要的相关化石记录。古巴尤其重要，因为这个岛构成了安特列斯群岛的土地表面的三分之一，但其生物群岛仅以基本的方式闻名。为了最大程度地提高结果，研究人员将在西班牙裔和古巴的第四纪和第三级环境中前景化石。主要目标是（1）增加鲜为人知的分类单元的样本量和迄今未知类群的前景；（2）当大型动物的四季节动物动物群灭绝时，要开始一个约会计划；（3）建立大安提斯群岛中季前生物多样性的性质；（4）利用古代的生物多样性作为评估分散和牧师（即板块构造事件）比较重要性的一种手段；（5）在多米尼加共和国发展人力资源，以增强当地学习和保护生物多样性的能力。这些目标是调查人员的一般计划，旨在调查原因和减少岛屿和类似岛屿环境的生物多样性的后果。