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

• 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

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.

该项目旨在评估竞争模型， 淡水鱼类和陆栖脊椎动物的地理分布 加勒比群岛。 它的新颖之处在于它将强调数据 从两个来源，这是关键的问题，但其中有 第三纪化石记录和古巴岛。 研究人员最近成功地发现了第三纪 西印度群岛的脊椎动物表明， 可以恢复相关的化石记录。 古巴尤其 重要性，因为这个岛占陆地的三分之一 安的列斯群岛的表面，但它的生物群是已知的只有一个 基本的方式。 为了取得最大的成果，研究人员将前景寻找化石 在伊斯帕尼奥拉岛和古巴的第四纪和第三纪环境中。 主要目标是（1）增加已知较少的分类群的样本量 前景：（2）开始一项计划 第四纪大型动物群 灭绝;（3）建立前第四纪的性质 大安的列斯群岛的生物多样性;（4）利用古代 生物多样性作为评估相对重要性的手段 分散和替代（即，板块构造事件） 安的列斯群岛动物群的形成;（5）发展人类 多米尼加共和国的资源，以加强当地的 研究和保护生物多样性。 这些目标是 补充研究人员的一般计划， 调查生物多样性减少的原因和后果 在岛屿和类似岛屿的环境中。