Acquisition of Equipment for a Paleobotany Laboratory at Penn State

国际和平研究所开始在宾夕法尼亚州立大学地球科学系担任终身教职，并正在建立一个用于研究和教学的古植物学实验室。该奖项支持购买基本的实验室设备，如标本盒、显微镜、计算机、摄影用品和化石制备设备。PI的研究计划是定量的，依赖于大样本量，该奖项将有助于支持在现代设施中一次收集和积极管理数千个植物化石标本。宾夕法尼亚州立大学的标本保管所允许PI和学生每天使用这些标本。该奖项为涉及更好地了解过去陆地生态系统和气候变化的几项研究举措提供了物质基础，例如(1)利用化石植物对古气候进行量化的方法；(2)跨越白垩纪-古近纪界线的陆地气候和植被，这是一个大规模灭绝的时期；(3)在全球变暖的晚古新世-早始新世期间的陆地气候和植被；(4)在化石树叶上看到的昆虫草食对从白垩纪到始新世的气候变化和其他扰动的反应。该奖项加速的实验室基础设施将支持本科生、研究生和博士后的培训，支持他们的研究项目，并使宾夕法尼亚州立大学的古植物学教学收藏的住房和维护成为可能。*

0236489WilfThe PI is beginning a tenure-track appointment in the Department of Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University and is setting up a paleobotany lab for research and teaching. This award supports the acquisition of fundamental laboratory equipment such as specimen cases, microscopes, computers, photographic supplies, and fossil preparation equipment. The PI's research program is quantitative in nature and relies on large sample sizes, and the award will help to support the collection and active curation of several thousand specimens of fossil plants at a time in a modern facility. Housing of specimens at Penn State allows them to be used on a daily basis by the PI and students. The award provides the material infrastructure for several research initiatives involving the improved understanding of changes in past terrestrial ecosystems and climates, such as (1) methods for using fossil plants to quantify paleoclimates; (2) terrestrial climates and vegetation across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, a time of mass extinctions; (3) terrestrial climates and vegetation during the late Paleocene-early Eocene interval of global warming; and (4) the response of insect herbivory, seen on fossil leaves, to climate changes and other perturbations from the Cretaceous to the Eocene. The laboratory infrastructure expedited by the award will support the training of undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs, support their research projects, and make possible the housing and maintenance of paleobotanical teaching collections at Penn State.***