EAR-PF: Investigating the Role of Changing Substrates in the Ordovician Radiation: Great Basin, USA

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。Katherine Marenco被授予美国国家科学基金会地球科学博士后奖学金，在布林莫尔学院与加州大学河滨分校的科学家合作开展一项研究和教育计划。这个项目的重点将是探索海洋硬基质的发展与附着硬基质的动物的进化和分布之间的关系。硬底物包括被困在贝壳床中的沉积物、海绵藻泥丘和斑块礁。对加州、犹他州和内华达州的奥陶纪（490-443 Ma）海相沉积物进行测量和采样，以：(1)描述每个地点沉积单元的物理特征，并根据化石含量确定其相对年龄；(2)量化硬基质的环境分布和丰度；(3)研究不同硬基质附着物种的时空分布与古生态指标和沉积物组成的相关性；(4)建立结合硬附着动物和硬基质在不同环境和时间中的分布的图表。该项目的数据将通过古生物学数据库提供给科学界。教育计划包括发展古生物学基本概念的博物馆展览和重建奥陶纪世界。此外，本科生将有机会参与实地和实验室方面的研究。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Dr. Katherine Marenco is awarded an NSF Earth Science Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at Bryn Mawr College in collaboration with scientists from the University of California - Riverside. The focus of this project will be exploring the relationship that development of hard marine substrates had in the evolution and distribution of hard-substrate-attaching fauna. The hard substrates consist of sediment trapped in shell beds, sponge-algal mud mounds, and patch reefs. Ordovician (490-443 Ma) marine deposits in California, Utah, and Nevada will be measured and sampled to: (1) describe physical characteristics of the sedimentary units at each locality and determine their relative age based on fossil content; (2) quantify the environmental distribution and abundance of hard substrates; (3) examine spatial and temporal distribution of different hard-substrate-attaching species to correlate with paleoecological indicators and sediment composition; (4) build diagrams that combine distribution of hard-attaching fauna and hard substrates in different environments and through time. Data from this project will be made available to the scientific community via the Paleobiology Database. The education plan consists of developing of museum exhibits on fundamental concepts of paleontology and reconstructions of the Ordovician world. In addition, undergraduate students will have the opportunity of being engage in field and laboratory aspects of the research.