U.S. South Africa Dissertation Enhancement: Late Paleozoic Fossil Plants from Gondwana: Clarifying the Role of Glossopterids In Seed Plant Evolution

该奖项支持PI实验室研究生Patricia E. Ryberg在古植物学方面的博士论文研究。这笔资金将使Ryberg女士能够与威特沃特斯兰德大学的Marion Bamford博士和南非罗德大学的Rose Prevec博士合作。Ryberg女士的研究方向是舌蕨的系统学和系统发育，这是一种来自南半球（Gondwana）的二叠纪岩石（~260 myr）的灭绝种子植物，被认为是开花植物的祖先。Drs。普雷韦克和班福德分别是舌龙生殖结构方面的世界专家，也是这个群体最大、最多样化藏品的管理者。Ryberg女士的研究将集中于比较她在南极洲发现的化石和在南非发现的化石，以便为舌蕨的全球系统发育和种子植物系统发育提供数据。最终目标是了解这一群体的进化及其与开花植物的可能关系。这个项目将加强Ryberg女士的论文，并为与南非同事继续合作提供基础。通过这个项目，她将为今后的工作积累知识和国际联系。南非古植物学家将提供培训和他们的印象化石方法的知识，雷伯格女士将有机会与他们讨论她的论文研究。这项研究开始的国际合作将为未来更多的研究提供联系，这将提高Ryberg女士博士学位完成后的教学和研究水平。

This award supports doctoral dissertation research of Patricia E. Ryberg, graduate student in the laboratory of the PI, in paleobotany. Funding will allow Ms. Ryberg to work with Dr. Marion Bamford, University of Witwatersrand, and Dr. Rose Prevec, Rhodes University, South Africa. Ms. Ryberg's research is on the systematics and phylogeny of the Glossopteridales, extinct seed plants of Permian rocks (~260 myr) from the Southern Hemisphere (Gondwana), which are thought to be ancestors of the flowering plants. Drs. Prevec and Bamford are, respectively, the world's expert on glossopterid reproductive structures, and curator of the largest and most diverse collections of this group. Ms. Ryberg's research will concentrate on comparing her fossils from Antarctica with those from South Africa, in order to provide data for a global phylogeny of the glossopterids, and for a seed plant phylogeny. The final goal is to understand the evolution of the group and their possible relationship to the flowering plants.This project will enhance Ms. Ryberg's dissertation, and provide a basis for continuing collaboration with South African colleagues. Through this project, she will gain knowledge and international contacts for future work. South African paleobotanists will provide training and knowledge of their approach to impression fossils and Ms. Ryberg will have the opportunity to discuss her dissertation research with them. The international collaborations begun with this study will provide connections for additional research in the future, which will enhance Ms. Ryberg's teaching and research after her Ph.D. is completed.