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

摘要该奖项是根据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的化石植物沉积物，这些沉积物物种丰富，但鲜为人知，可追溯到6600万至4700万年前。迄今为止收集到的500多个物种中，约有80%是科学上的新物种，时间间隔包括白垩纪末期（K-T）“恐龙”灭绝和恢复以及重要的全球变暖和变冷事件。除此之外，只有北美西部的陆地植物才知道这个关键时期。化石植物区系与现代生物多样性有着巨大的相关性，是研究南半球植物进化、分布和生态的无与伦比的数据来源。需要解决的一些基本问题是：1)巴塔哥尼亚是否像北美一样，存在大规模的K-T植物灭绝和长时间的恢复？2)化石植物的现代分布是什么？澳大拉西亚的植物，代表着通过南极洲失去的陆地联系，是最著名的，但该地区也是今天新热带森林的来源吗？3)古巴塔哥尼亚是热带雨林吗？这是一个发达的国际合作，涉及丰富的知识交流。研究生和博士后的培训和职业发展是一个主要的重点，以及公共教育。广泛的科学效益包括：1)第一个密集采样的南美植物和古气候记录，其时间间隔具有巨大的全球利益；2)对植物进化和生物地理学具有重要意义的南美洲大量新颖、年代确定的植物谱系的出现；3)对植物区系的第一次强有力的地质认识；4)重大意外发现的巨大潜力。研究成果将广泛传播。成千上万的化石标本将永久保存在一个精心策划的公共机构，阿根廷特雷卢的Egidio Feruglio博物馆Paleontológico。

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.