Mammalian Extinction Dynamics in the Late Quaternary of Siberia and the Hyperdisease Hypothesis

西伯利亚晚第四纪哺乳动物灭绝动态和高疾病假说

基本信息

批准号：
9807670
负责人：
Ross MacPhee
金额：
$ 5万
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：
1998
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
1998-04-01 至 1999-12-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9807670&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Mammalian Extinction Dynamics Late Quaternary

项目摘要

This study involves an innovative approach to understanding the dynamics of Quaternary extinctions of polar mammals. The causes of most extinctions in earth history are obscure, but several events responsible for extraordinary losses during the last 40,000 years have proven especially resistant to testable explanation. A new hypothesis_the "hyperdisease hypothesis"_ proposed by the investigators may explain the known facts of certain late Quaternary extinctions better than competing hypotheses do. The essence of the argument is that, under certain circumstancces, highly infectious, highly lethal diseases can be a cause of species extinctions. The argument has testable implications, but it will first be necessary to create a database that does not now exist and to conduct laboratory investigations that could not have been undertaken even a decade ago. The investigators intend to participate in an expedition organized by Russian colleagues from the Institute of Zoology, St. Petersburg, Russia, during summer 1998 to recover late Pleistocene mammal specimens, especially woolly mammoths Mammuthus primigenius, preserved in permafrost conditions in eastern Siberia, and to undertake a battery of molecular analyses designed to detect, amplify, and sequence the host and viral genetic material in existing museum samples as well as material collected during the course of the present investigation. The Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) program will allow the investigators to take advantage of a unique opportunity to collect mammoth carcasses frozen in the permafrost tundra.

这项研究涉及一种创新的方法来理解极地哺乳动物第四纪灭绝的动力学。地球历史上大多数灭绝的原因是晦涩难懂的，但是在过去40，000年中，造成非凡损失的几项事件已被证明对可测试的解释具有抗药性。一个新的假设_ _提出的“超蛋白酶假说” _可能比竞争假设更好地解释某些晚期灭绝的已知事实。该论点的本质是，在某些情况下，高度感染力，高度致命的疾病可能是物种灭绝的原因。该论点具有可检验的含义，但是首先需要创建一个现在不存在的数据库，并进行十年前甚至还无法进行的实验室调查。调查人员打算参加1998年夏季俄罗斯动物学研究所的俄罗斯同事组织的探险现有博物馆样本中的病毒遗传物质以及在本研究过程中收集的材料。探索性研究（SGER）计划的小型赠款将使研究人员能够利用独特的机会收集在永久冻土苔原中冻结的猛mm虫。