RUI: Documenting the Effects of Global Warming on an Arctic Eocene Lake Using Siliceous Microfossil Remains

5000多万年前，早在人类进化之前，地球就被吞没在一个被称为新生代热房的极端温暖的时期。这一变暖事件是由深海沉积物大量释放温室气体造成的，导致地球完全没有冰，亚热带条件远远超出了北极圈。该项目的目标是记录在新生代暖房期间代表一个古老的北冰洋湖泊的广泛核心中的微小光合作用生物的遗骸，并利用这些发现来评估未来变暖对淡水生态系统的影响。核心是显着和独特的，因为它包含了800万年期间事件的连续记录。除了解决全球变暖问题外，这项研究还将评估两类具有生态重要性的生物体的进化问题，包括进化停滞、现代细胞结构的形成和灭绝速度。从环境的角度来看，世界上没有比了解全球变暖对我们星球的潜在影响更紧迫的了。今天，人类向大气中排放温室气体的速度比导致新生代温室效应的速度更快。该项目为了解北极淡水生态系统如何应对全球变暖提供了一个独特的机会，并将产生有助于校准基于计算机的模型的信息。

Over 50 million years ago, long before humans evolved, the Earth was engulfed in an extremely warm period known as the Cenozoic hot house. The warming event was caused by a massive release of greenhouse gases from deep oceanic sediments and resulted in an Earth that was totally ice-free with subtropical conditions extending well beyond the Arctic Circle. The goal of this project is to document the remains of microscopic photosynthetic organisms from an extensive core representing an ancient Arctic lake during the Cenozoic hot house and use the findings to evaluate the effects of future warming on freshwater ecosystems. The core is remarkable and unique in that it contains a continuous record of events over an eight million year period. In addition to addressing global warming issues, this study will evaluate evolutionary questions for two ecologically important groups of organisms, including evolutionary stasis, formation of modern cell structures and rates of extinction. From an environmental point of view, there is no greater sense of urgency worldwide than understanding the potential effects of global warming on our planet. Today, humans are pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at a rate greater than that which caused the Cenozoic hot house. The project offers a unique opportunity to understand how Arctic freshwater ecosystems respond to global warming and will yield information that can aid in the calibration of computer-based models.