Ecological Diversity of Miocene Mammals of Pakistan

巴基斯坦中新世哺乳动物的生态多样性

• 批准号: 0125663
• 负责人: Catherine Badgley
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-02-01 至 2008-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0125663&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Ecological; Diversity; Miocene; Mammals; Pakistan

Ecological diversity of Miocene mammals of PakistanCatherine Badgley, Thure Cerling, Anna K. Behrensmeyer, John C. BarryEAR-0125663Abstract This collaborative project evaluates the ecological and evolutionary responses of mammals to changes in climate and vegetation during the late Miocene (5 to 11 million years ago), as known from the terrestrial record of Pakistan. Fossils and sedimentary rocks of northern Pakistan are well documented by the work of our international research team that has conducted over 25 years of field work on the geology, paleontology, and paleoecology of the Siwalik sequence. (Siwalik refers to fluvial sediments shed by the rising Himalayas over the last 20 million years.) Work to date on Siwalik sediments and vertebrate fossils, especially mammals, has provided a detailed record of changing fluvial systems, climate and vegetation, preservational attributes of fossil assemblages, and mammalian faunas. This record is one of the best documented continental ecosystems of the Cenozoic and now presents the opportunity to evaluate changes in taxonomic composition, speciation, immigration, local extinction, and ecological attributes of mammalian species and faunas in relation to sustained environmental change. Our project involves first the creation of an electronic database (the Siwalik species database) for fossil mammals. The database will contain ecologically informative, specimen-based measurements, including morphological and isotopic data for each species. Next, we will use this compilation of data to test three models of how mammalian faunas changed over time. One model focuses on the direct effects of changing climate and vegetation on the composition and ecological attributes of mammals. The second model evaluates whether or not species with large geographic ranges and high local abundance dominate the pattern of faunal change. The third model examines the hypothesis that the arrival of several species of extremely large mammals (the size of elephants) altered the local habitat through feeding and trampling and caused changes in the rest of the ecological community. Each model makes a unique set of predictions about the timing and nature of faunal change in relation to environmental change. These predictions will be tested with the data assembled in the database. The Siwalik species database will stabilize the taxonomic and ecological data for Siwalik mammals and make these data accessible for other studies of Old World history. Tests of the three models of faunal change will demonstrate how the fossil record contributes to patterns and theory in community ecology.

巴基斯坦中新世哺乳动物的生态多样性。作者声明：John C.这个合作项目评估了哺乳动物对中新世晚期（500万至1100万年前）气候和植被变化的生态和进化反应，这是从巴基斯坦的陆地记录中得知的。 巴基斯坦北方的化石和沉积岩被我们的国际研究团队很好地记录了下来，该团队对西瓦利克序列的地质学、古生物学和古生态学进行了超过25年的实地工作。 （西瓦利克指的是过去2000万年来喜马拉雅山脉上升所产生的河流沉积物。 到目前为止，对西瓦利克沉积物和脊椎动物化石，特别是哺乳动物的研究，提供了一个关于河流系统、气候和植被变化、化石组合和哺乳动物区系的分类属性的详细记录。 该记录是记录最完整的新生代大陆生态系统之一，现在提供了评估哺乳动物物种和动物群在持续环境变化方面的分类组成、物种形成、移民、局部灭绝和生态属性变化的机会。我们的项目首先涉及建立一个哺乳动物化石电子数据库（西瓦利克物种数据库）。 该数据库将包含生态信息量大的、基于生物学的测量数据，包括每个物种的形态和同位素数据。 接下来，我们将使用这些数据来测试哺乳动物区系如何随时间变化的三个模型。 一个模型侧重于气候和植被变化对哺乳动物的组成和生态属性的直接影响。 第二个模型评估地理分布范围大、当地丰度高的物种是否主导动物区系变化的格局。 第三个模型检验了一个假设，即几种体型极大的哺乳动物（大象的大小）的到来通过进食和践踏改变了当地的栖息地，并导致了生态群落其他部分的变化。 每个模型都对与环境变化有关的动物群变化的时间和性质做出了一套独特的预测。 这些预测将用数据库中收集的数据进行检验。西瓦利克物种数据库将稳定西瓦利克哺乳动物的分类和生态数据，并使这些数据可用于旧世界历史的其他研究。 动物群变化的三个模型的测试将展示化石记录如何有助于社区生态学的模式和理论。