Neogene Paleoecology of the Beardmore Glacier Region

智力价值：这个项目的主要目标是对迈耶沙漠地层中的两个床进行采样，这两个床是已知的特别化石，其中包含植物、昆虫、其他节肢动物、淡水软体动物和鱼类。也有可能发现一种小型有袋类动物的牙齿和骨骼。以前的研究已经证明，这些地层层包含独特的化石组合，提供了用于重建古环境和古气候的信息。这些化石代表了以前在南极洲没有发现的生物，因此，他们的研究将导致关于南半球生物地理的新假说的发展。这些新发现还将增加对南半球生物群的古环境和古气候以及生物地理关系的了解。对于一些生物，如南山毛榉或地甲虫，化石将证实南极洲是冈瓦那的一部分。对于其他化石，如预计不会生活在南极洲的环状扇蝇或淡水软体动物，这些发现将需要重新评估系统发育解释，并重新调查南极洲在这些生物进化史中的作用。基于化石的新知识将需要与分支学和分子遗传学的解释相结合，以开发一系列生物更全面的系统发育假说。广泛的影响：在南极洲发现化石及其对气候变化的影响已被证明受到媒体的欢迎。这种关注将有助于传播这项研究的结果。在野外赛季之前，PI将与当地媒体和地区学校合作，从南极洲开始实地采访和网络广播。该项目还将对一名研究生进行实地培训，并在实验室对化石进行后续研究。

Intellectual Merit: The primary goal of this project is to sample two beds in the Meyer Desert Formation, which are known to be especially fossiliferous containing plants, insects, other arthropods, freshwater mollusks, and fish. There is a possibility that the teeth and bones of a small marsupial could also be found. Previous studies have demonstrated that these horizons contain unique fossil assemblages that provide information used to reconstruct paleoenvironments and paleoclimate. The fossils represent organisms previously not found in Antarctica and consequently their study will lead to the development of new hypotheses concerning southern hemisphere biogeography. The new discoveries will also increase knowledge of paleoenvironments and paleoclimates as well as biogeographic relationships of the biota of the southern hemisphere. For some organisms, such as Nothofagus (Southern Beech) or the trechine groundbeetle, fossils would confirm that Antarctica was inhabited as part of Gondwana. For other fossils, such as the cyclorrhaphan fly or freshwater mollusks not expected to have inhabited Antarctica, the discoveries will require a reassessment of phylogenetic interpretations and a reinvestigation of the role of Antarctica in the evolutionary history of those organisms. The new fossil-based knowledge will require integration with interpretations from cladistics and molecular genetics to develop more comprehensive phylogenetic hypotheses for a range of organisms.Broader impacts: The discovery of fossils in Antarctica and implications for climate change has proven to be popular with the media. This attention will help disseminate the results of this study. Before the field season, the PI will work with local media and with area schools to set up field interviews and web casts from Antarctica. The project will also involve the training of a graduate student in the field and in the follow up studies of the fossils in the laboratory.