Collaborative Research: Antarctic Ecosystems across the Permian-Triassic Boundary: Integrating Paleobotany, Sedimentology, and Paleoecology

智力价值：这项建议的重点是收集横贯北极山脉(CTM)中部二叠纪-三叠纪(P-T)岩石中的植物化石和孢粉形态，以及关于沉积学和古生态沉积环境的详细数据。植物化石是重要的气候指标，为了解过去提供了一个独特的窗口，而CTM化石是关于植物在全球变化期间如何应对季节性强烈的极光制度的重要数据来源。拟议的项目利用古植物学专业知识，结合详细的沉积学和地层学，重建二叠纪-三叠纪植物群落及其古环境。这种跨学科的方法可以揭示南极-S杂岩晚古生代和中生代的环境和气候历史的细节，包括：1)冰川消融，2)冰后景观和生物群的发育和演化，3)与二叠纪末期大灭绝有关的环境和生物变化，4)早期三叠纪的环境恢复，5)强大的可能失控的三叠纪温室，6)广泛的造山和前陆盆地系统的发展。生物多样性指数将从定量和定性两个方面收集压缩植物群，以获得生物多样性和丰度数据。由于硅化木材也存在，PI将分析树木的年轮和在温暖的高纬度环境中的生长，这是没有现代模拟的。从CTM采集的植物化石可以提供以下生物和环境信息：1)冈瓦那从冰库迁移到温室条件下的古气候；2)跨越P-T边界的植物进化轨迹；3)重建南极植物生活；4)进一步了解植物对高纬度的适应。这项研究的学术价值包括：1)追踪冰川消退后的植物群演变；2)研究整个PTB的植物群组成和多样性；3)获得这些生态系统在早三叠世的恢复数据，以及早-中三叠世的植物群盖度和多样性的变化。南极洲是地球上唯一一个包括广泛露出地面的陆地岩石，以及广泛存在和保存完好的植物化石的地方，这些化石跨越了这一关键时期。更广泛的影响：更广泛的影响包括公众宣传；对妇女和代表性不足的学生进行教学和指导；指导研究生、博士后和新的教师妇女；与密歇根大学自然历史博物馆教育部合作开展关于南极古气候的探究式讲习班；通过恩波里亚州立大学的扩展你的地平线计划和KU的三人计划继续支持中学女生的科学讲习班；通过McMurdo站的视频/计算机链接探索南极地球科学；通过在威斯康星州和堪萨斯州的K-12科学班举行卫星电话会议，以及通过参加威斯康星州大学的NSF教师研究经验方案。

Intellectual Merit: The focus of this proposal is to collect fossil plants and palynomorphs from Permian-Triassic (P-T) rocks of the central Transantarctic Mountains (CTM), together with detailed data on sedimentologic and paleoecologic depositional environments. Fossil plants are important climate proxies that offer a unique window into the past, and the CTM fossils are an important source of data on the ways that plants responded to a strongly seasonal, polar light regime during a time of global change. The proposed project uses paleobotanical expertise, integrated with detailed sedimentology and stratigraphy, to reconstruct Permian-Triassic plant communities and their paleoenvironments. This interdisciplinary approach could uncover details of Antarctica?s complex late Paleozoic and Mesozoic environmental and climatic history which included: 1) deglaciation, 2) development and evolution of a post-glacial landscape and biota, 3) environmental and biotic change associated with the end-Permian mass extinction, 4) environmental recovery in the earliest Triassic, 5) strong, possible runaway Triassic greenhouse, and 6) widespread orogenesis and development of a foreland basin system. The PIs will collect compression floras both quantitatively and qualitatively to obtain biodiversity and abundance data. Since silicified wood is also present, the PIs will analyze tree rings and growth in a warm, high-latitude environment for which there is no modern analogue. Fossil plants from the CTM can provide biological and environmental information to: 1) interpret paleoclimate when Gondwana moved from icehouse to greenhouse conditions; 2) trace floral evolution across the P-T boundary; 3) reconstruct Antarctic plant life; 4) further understanding of plant adaptations to high latitudes. The Intellectual Merit of the research includes: 1) tracing floral evolution after the retreat of glaciers; 2) examining floral composition and diversity across the PTB; and 3) obtaining data on the recovery of these ecosystems in the Early Triassic, as well as changes in floral cover and diversity in the Early-Middle Triassic. Antarctica is the only place on Earth that includes extensive outcrops of terrestrial rocks, combined with widespread and well-preserved plant fossils, which spans this crucial time period. Broader impacts: The broader impacts include public outreach; teaching, and mentoring of women and underrepresented students; mentoring graduate student, postdoctoral, and new faculty women; development of an inquiry-based workshop on Antarctic paleoclimate with the Division of Education, KU Natural History Museum; continuing support of workshops for middle school girls in science via the Expanding Your Horizons Program, Emporia State University, and the TRIO program, KU; exploring Antarctic geosciences through video/computer links from McMurdo Station and satellite phone conferences from the field with K-12 science classes in Wisconsin and Kansas, and through participation in the NSF Research Experiences for Teachers program at the University of Wisconsin.