New Cretaceous Theropods and Microvertebrates from Africa

来自非洲的新白垩纪兽脚类动物和微型脊椎动物

• 批准号: 0417163
• 负责人: Paul Sereno
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: University of Chicago
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-08-01 至 2006-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0417163&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: New; Cretaceous; Theropods; Microvertebrates; Africa

Intellectual Merit - Dr. Paul Sereno and his colleagues will study recently discovered dinosaur fossils from Cretaceous rocks in northern Africa. Paleontological expeditions to the Niger Republic in 1993, 1997 and 2000 and to Morocco in 1995 resulted in the discovery of well preserved dinosaurian fossils from three horizons spanning the Cretaceous period. In addition, approximately five tons of sediment was collected from several sites where microvertebrate remains were found on the surface. From a paleobiogeographic perspective, the faunas to which the dinosaur and microvertebrate material belong are of exceptional interest, because they range in age from late Early Cretaceous (Aptian/Albian) to early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian), when Africa was breaking away from neighboring landmasses. Several hypotheses have been forwarded regarding the pattern and timing of isolation of the southern (Gondwanan) landmasses, and the results of this project thus will be of particular interest. The goals of the project are (1) to clean and study new theropod dinosaur skeletons, (2) to understand their taxonomic relationships and biogeographic distributions, (3) to study microvertebrate remains that aid in the dating of sampled horizons, and (4) to search for some of the first Cretaceous mammal teeth from continental Africa. The newly discovered skeletons and fossil-rich sediment at the center of this project will strongly impact the understanding of the fossil record on Africa, which is very poorly established by comparison to northern landmasses. The record of mammals of Cretaceous age from Africa is almost nonexistent and represents an exciting frontier. Broader Impacts - The project integrates research and training of undergraduate and graduate students in the biological and Earth sciences through classes taught by the PI and by involving students as volunteers in the PI's preparation lab at the University of Chicago. Students will assist with fossil preparation, sediment cleaning and sorting and molding/casting. Preparation of dinosaur discoveries will be showcased to the public through laboratory tours (up to 1500 people per year) and through public programs offered by the nonprofit science educational organization (www.projectexploration.org) co-founded by the PI. Since its inception in 1999, Project Exploration has brought 60 inner-city youth to Montana or Wyoming to conduct paleontology field work, served 85 minority middle school girls through our Sisters4Science program and trained 200 students to serve as docents for public exhibits. Ninety-three percent of our students continue their relationship with Project Exploration beyond their initial youth program experience. The project will also serve as a research tool for Project Exploration's school services programs that have provided in-depth professional development workshops to 300 Chicago Public School teachers, and reached more than 2,000 Chicago-area teachers and students through in-school programming and lab tours. In addition, Project Exploration has connected with more than one million people nationally and internationally through online initiatives and traveling exhibitions.

智力功绩-保罗塞雷诺博士和他的同事将研究最近发现的恐龙化石从白垩纪岩石在北方非洲。 1993年、1997年和2000年对尼日尔共和国以及1995年对摩洛哥进行的古生物学考察，在跨越白垩纪的三个层位发现了保存完好的古生物化石。 此外，还从几个在表面发现微脊椎动物遗骸的地点收集了大约5吨沉积物。 从古生物地理学的角度来看，恐龙和微脊椎动物材料所属的动物群具有特殊的意义，因为它们的年龄范围从早白垩世晚期（Aptian/Albian）到晚白垩世早期（Cenomanian），当时非洲正在脱离邻近的大陆。 关于南部（冈瓦纳）陆块孤立的模式和时间，已经提出了几个假设，因此，本项目的结果将特别感兴趣。 该项目的目标是（1）清理和研究新的兽脚亚目恐龙骨骼，（2）了解它们的分类关系和地理分布，（3）研究微脊椎动物遗骸，以帮助确定采样层位的年代，（4）寻找非洲大陆的一些第一批白垩纪哺乳动物牙齿。 新发现的骨骼和富含化石的沉积物将强烈影响对非洲化石记录的理解，与北方大陆相比，非洲的化石记录非常薄弱。 非洲白垩纪哺乳动物的记录几乎是不存在的，代表了一个令人兴奋的前沿。 更广泛的影响-该项目通过PI教授的课程，并通过让学生在芝加哥大学的PI准备实验室担任志愿者，整合了生物和地球科学方面的本科生和研究生的研究和培训。 学生将协助化石准备，沉积物清洁和分类和成型/铸造。 恐龙发现的准备工作将通过实验室图尔斯之旅（每年最多1500人）和由PI共同创立的非营利性科学教育组织（www.projectexploration.org）提供的公共项目向公众展示。 自1999年成立以来，Project Exploration已将60名内城青年带到蒙大拿州或怀俄明州进行古生物学实地考察，通过我们的Sisters 4Science计划为85名少数民族中学女生提供服务，并培训了200名学生担任公共展览的讲解员。我们的学生的百分之九十三继续他们的关系项目探索超越他们最初的青年计划的经验。 该项目还将作为Project Exploration学校服务项目的研究工具，该项目为300名芝加哥公立学校教师提供了深入的专业发展研讨会，并通过校内编程和实验室图尔斯之旅接触了2,000多名芝加哥地区的教师和学生。此外，Project Exploration还通过在线活动和巡回展览与国内外100多万人建立了联系。