Legacy Database of the Panama Paleontology Project

巴拿马古生物学计划遗产数据库。柯林斯和安东尼G.科茨代尔-0746014，佛罗里达国际大学摘要如果科学家要更好地了解环境变化对热带地区高度多样但知之甚少的动物群的影响，他们需要更详细的，按时间顺序排列的信息。该项目将巴拿马古生物学项目（PPP）收集的热带化石信息建立一个关系数据库，通过互联网提供，并将其连接到一个系统，该系统将自动更新年龄到最新的标准地质年代，并不断使用新数据进行改进。PPP的化石收藏主要是来自中美洲和南美洲的有孔虫、软体动物、鱼类、珊瑚、介形虫和苔藓虫，收藏在世界各大博物馆中。这些化石的年龄异常清晰，这使得它们对于热带演化、地质学、地理学和环境变化的精细研究非常宝贵。目前，来自7个国家的40多名科学家已根据这些收藏出版了180多份科学出版物;然而，为了继续进行研究，需要补充现有的信息，并将年龄标准化为单一的时间尺度。购买力平价数据库的结构将基于数据类别之间关系的数据模型，为用户提供一个网络界面，并链接到国际地层委员会的TimeScale-Creator程序，该程序使未来能够更新最新的地质年龄信息。目前在www.fiu.edu/~collinsl/pppdatabase.html上提供的现有收藏信息也将更新，以包括来自巴拿马、哥斯达黎加、委内瑞拉和厄瓜多尔的新收藏（约825个地点和约2000条记录）。该项目的主要活动是：在数据库中增加新的记录和信息，提供所有动物样本的最新年龄，将数据模型作为关系数据库，在网上提供整个数据库，并使今后自动更新最新年龄信息。额外数据将从野外记录本、出版物和生物地层学家报告等文件中提取。用于确定年龄的一般方法是：1）对所有采集点进行地层排序，2）对每个地点进行生物地层测定，3）与项目的生物地层学家一起解决年龄问题，以及4）使用最新的年龄信息为地点分配生物年代学年龄。该项目活动的主要成果是增进科学研究知识和学生及博士后科学家的教育。新的数据库将使一些与大规模进化和生态过程有关的关键问题能够由世界各地的科学家进行严格和相对精细的测试。一名在佛罗里达迈阿密的州立大学和联邦政府认可的少数民族机构的研究生将学习数据管理和项目组织。

LEGACY DATABASE OF THE PANAMA PALEONTOLOGY PROJECTLaurel S. Collins and Anthony G. CoatesEAR-0746014, Florida International University ABSTRACTIf scientists are to gain a better understanding of the influence of environmental change on the highly diverse but poorly understood faunas of the tropics, they need more detailed, chronologically arranged information. This project constructs a relational database of information on tropical fossils collected by the Panama Paleontology Project (PPP), makes it available via the internet, and links it to a system that will automatically update the ages to the newest standard geologic time scale, which is continually refined with new data. The PPP's fossil collections of mostly foraminifera, mollusks, fish, corals, ostracodes and bryozoans from Central and South America are housed in major world museums. The ages of the fossils are unusually well resolved, which makes them invaluable for fine-scaled research on tropical evolution, geology, biogeography and environmental change. At present, more than 40 scientists from 7 countries have produced over 180 scientific publications based on these collections; however, for continued research, the current information needs to be supplemented and ages need to be standardized to a single time scale.The PPP Database will have a structure based on a data model of the relationships of the data categories, a web interface for users, and links to the TimeScale-Creator program of the International Commission on Stratigraphy that enables future updates to the newest geologic age information. The existing collections information currently available at www.fiu.edu/~collinsl/pppdatabase.html will also be updated to include newer collections from Panama, Costa Rica, Venezuela and Ecuador (~ 825 sites and ~2000 records). The main activities of the project are to: add new records and information to the database, provide updated ages for all faunal samples, implement the data model as a relational database, make the entire database available on the web, and make future updates to the newest age information automatic. The additional data will be extracted from documents such as field notebooks, publications and biostratigraphers' reports. The general methods employed for assigning ages are: 1) ordering all collection sites stratigraphically, 2) making biostratigraphic determinations for each site, 3) resolving age problems with the project's biostratigraphers, and 4) assigning biochronologic ages to the sites using the latest age information. The main results of the project's activities are to enhance knowledge for scientific research and the education of students and postdoctoral scientists. The new database will enable a number of key questions related to large-scale evolutionary and ecological processes to be tested rigorously and at a relatively fine scale by scientists around the world. A graduate student at FIU, Florida's state university in Miami and a federally recognized minority institution, will learn data management and project organization.