Collaborative Research: Ancient Biodiversity Hotspot in Southern South America: Evolution of Speciose Floras in Patagonia from latest Cretaceous to middle Eocene

最后修改日期：07/14/09最后修改人：Elizabeth A.凯洛格 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。该项目调查了阿根廷巴塔哥尼亚异常丰富但鲜为人知的化石植物沉积，可追溯到6600 - 4700万年前。到目前为止收集到的500多个物种中约有80%是新的科学，时间间隔包括白垩纪末（K-T）“恐龙”灭绝和恢复以及重要的全球变暖和变冷事件。这一关键时期只有在北美西部的陆地植物中才是众所周知的。化石植物群与现代生物多样性有着巨大的相关性，是南半球植物进化、分布和生态学方面无与伦比的数据来源。要解决的一些基本问题是：1）在巴塔哥尼亚是否有一个主要的K-T植物灭绝和长期恢复，如在北美？2)化石植物的现代分布是什么？澳大拉西亚的植物，代表了通过南极洲失去的陆地连接，是最有名的，但该地区也是今天的新热带森林的来源吗？古代巴塔哥尼亚是热带雨林吗？这是一个发达的国际合作，涉及丰富的智力交流。研究生和博士后的培训和职业发展以及公共教育是一个主要重点。广泛的科学效益包括：1）第一个密集采样的南美洲植物和古气候记录，具有巨大的全球利益; 2）在南美洲出现了许多新颖的，年代久远的植物谱系，对植物进化和植物地理学具有极大的兴趣; 3）对植物群的第一个强大的地质认识; 4）重大计划外发现的高潜力。研究成果将广泛传播。数以千计的化石标本将通过存放在一个精心策划的公共机构，Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio，Tagliw，阿根廷永久可用。

Last Modified Date: 07/14/09 Last Modified By: Elizabeth A. Kellogg Abstract This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This project investigates exceptionally species-rich but poorly known fossil plant deposits in Patagonia, Argentina, dating from 66-47 million years old. Approximately 80% of more than 500 species so far collected are new to science, and the time interval includes the end-Cretaceous (K-T) "dinosaur" extinction and recovery as well as important global warming and cooling events. This critical time period is otherwise only well known, for land plants, in Western North America. The fossil floras hold immense relevance to modern biodiversity as an unrivaled data source regarding plant evolution, distribution, and ecology in the Southern Hemisphere. Some of the fundamental questions to be addressed are: 1) was there a major K-T plant extinction and long recovery in Patagonia, as in North America? 2) what are the modern distributions of the fossil plants? Australasian plants, representing a lost land connection via Antarctica, are the best known, but was the area also a source for today's Neotropical forests? and 3) was ancient Patagonia a rainforest? This is a well-developed international collaboration involving abundant intellectual exchange. Training and career advancement of graduate students and postdocs is a major focus, as well as public education. Broad scientific benefits include: 1) the first densely sampled South American floral and paleoclimatic record for a time interval of immense global interest; 2) numerous, novel, well-dated plant-lineage appearances in South America of great interest for plant evolution and biogeography; 3) the first robust geological understanding of the floras; and 4) a high potential for significant unplanned discoveries. Research results will be disseminated widely. The thousands of fossil specimens will be permanently available through deposition in a well-curated public institution, Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Trelew, Argentina.