POWRE: Comparitive role of scleractinian corals and ancient rudist bivalves in Cretaceous reefs: Implication for changes in reef composition in a future greenhouse world

加勒比海地区的约翰森白垩纪地层可以为研究温室世界的珊瑚礁生态系统中的宏观演化过程提供一个试验场。加勒比海珊瑚-藻类系统是从侏罗纪继承而来的，当时珊瑚和原始生物共同居住在碳酸盐台地；陆栖双壳类最终主导了许多加勒比海台地。对热带核心区和北缘生物礁中的中白垩世珊瑚和双壳类古生物进行了分类组成和形态特征分析。要解决的假设涉及两个群体优势地位变化的机制：是否只有环境驱动进化，是否有分类学、形态和生态因素需要考虑，或者主导地位的变化是一个宏观进化过程，涉及两个群体共存的环境和生态特征？从这项研究中注意到的宏观进化趋势的存在或不存在，将对我们在温室世界中热带地区运行的进化过程的知识做出重大贡献。这项研究对POWRE是合适的，因为为了研究热带进化论的一个基本问题，为这类工作提供资金的机会：在温室世界期间，宏观进化过程是否在热带地区起作用？

0074603JohnsonCretaceous strata of the Caribbean region can provide a testing ground for studying macroevolutionary processes in a reef ecosystem of a greenhouse world. Caribbean coral-algal systems were inherited from the Jurassic, and corals and rudists then co-inhabited the carbonate platforms; rudist bivalves eventually dominated many of the Caribbean platforms. Middle Cretaceous coral and bivalve paleobiota from reefs in the core and northern margin of the tropics will be analyzed for taxonomic composition and morphologic characters. The hypothesis to be addressed involves the mechanism of change in dominance of the two groups: is only the environment driving evolution, are there taxonomic, morphologic, and ecologic factors to consider, or is the change in dominance a macroevolutionary process involving both environment and the ecologic characteristics of the co-existence of the two groups? The presence or absence of macroevolutionary trends noted from this study will be a substantial contribution to our knowledge of evolutionary processes operating in the tropics during a greenhouse world. This study is appropriate for POWRE because funding opportunities for such work in order to research a fundamental question of evolutionary theory in the tropics: are macroevolutionary processes operative in the tropics during a greenhouse world?