COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Testing Climate-Controlled Endemism in Equatorial Pangea

合作研究：测试赤道pangan的气候控制地方性华盛顿大学的christian A. Sidor （EAR-0617718）南卫理公会大学的Neil J. Tabor （EAR-0617250）该奖项由美国国家科学基金会国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。古生物学家目前从三个主要区域了解二叠纪陆地生态系统。下二叠纪以德克萨斯州中北部及周边各州的经典红层层序而闻名。经过1- 200万年的间隔，俄罗斯的Cis-Ural地区和南非的Karoo盆地的中上二叠纪陆地记录再次出现。尽管存在其他较小的序列，但这三部分记录（德克萨斯州、俄罗斯、南非）已成为150多年来解释古生代末陆地生态系统的基础。然而，重要的是，它包含了一个明显的地理偏差：德克萨斯州下二叠统大致沉积在古赤道，而中上二叠统俄罗斯和南非的岩石代表高纬度盆地（分别为北纬40度和南纬60度）。因此，对植物和动物随时间变化的解释受到纬度和相关气候影响的混淆。pi的研究将调查尼日尔北部的上二叠纪地层，因为这些岩石独特地代表了盘古大陆中部古赤道南纬10度的情况。有趣的是，初步研究表明，这些岩石中保存着一种特有的四足动物动物群，尽管它们位于俄罗斯和非洲南部之间。这项为期三年的研究将：(1)建立西非第一个也是唯一一个大陆二叠纪地层学，(2)利用古土壤形态和地球化学以及植物化石来测试盘古大陆中部的气候模型，(3)用生物和年代地层数据限制尼日尔二叠纪岩石的年龄，(4)继续发展我们对该地区动植物化石记录的理解。此外，通过提供低纬度上二叠纪生物群的数据，pi的工作将填补长期以来陆地化石记录的空白。他们的研究还将通过为一个目前没有此类数据的地区提供古温度和降水的经验估计来限制未来的气候模型。因此，尼日尔的二叠纪岩石在回答四足动物生物地理学问题和验证或反驳基于计算机的古气候模型方面是独一无二的。

Collaborative Research: Testing climate-controlled endemism in equatorial PangeaChristian A. Sidor, University of Washington (EAR-0617718)Neil J. Tabor, Southern Methodist University (EAR-0617250)This award is co-funded by NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering.ABSTRACTPaleontologists currently understand Permian terrestrial ecosystems from three main regions. The Lower Permian is best known from the classic red-bed sequence of north-central Texas and surrounding states. After a 1-2 million year gap, the Middle and Upper Permian terrestrial record picks up again in the Cis-Ural region of Russia and the Karoo Basin of South Africa. Although other minor sequences exist, this three part record (Texas, Russia, South Africa) has been the basis for the interpretation of end-Paleozoic terrestrial ecosystems for over 150 years. Importantly, however, it includes a significant geographic bias: the Texas Lower Permian was deposited at roughly the paleoequator, whereas Middle and Upper Permian Russian and South African rocks represent high-latitude basins (40 degrees N and 60 degrees S, respectively). As a consequence, interpretations of floral and faunal changes through time are confounded by latitudinal and related climatic effects. PIs research will investigate the Upper Permian strata of northern Niger because these rocks uniquely represent conditions at 10 degrees S of the paleoequator in central Pangea. Intriguingly, preliminary work has shown that an endemic tetrapod fauna is preserved in these rocks, despite being positioned halfway between those of Russia and southern Africa. This three-year study will: (1) establish the first and only continental Permian stratigraphy for West Africa, (2) use paleosol morphology and geochemistry, as well as plant fossils to test climate models for central Pangea, (3) constrain the age of the Permian rocks of Niger with bio- and chronostratigraphic data, and (4) continue to develop our understanding of this region's plant and animal fossil record. Moreover, PIs work will fill a longstanding hole in the terrestrial fossil record by providing data on a low-latitude, Upper Permian biota. Their research will also constrain future climate models by providing empirical estimates of paleotemperature and precipitation for a region where no such data currently exist. The Permian rocks of Niger are thus unique in their ability to answer questions of tetrapod biogeography and validate or refute computer-based models of paleoclimate.