PIRE--Ancient biodiversity and global change in the New World Tropics: A once-in-a-century opportunity along the Panama Canal

新世界热带地区（NWT）拥有非常高的生物多样性，今天受到气候变化，人类影响和灭绝的威胁。然而，人们对这种生物多样性何时起源以及如何随着时间的推移而演变所知甚少。这个PIRE项目抓住了巴拿马运河扩建项目提供的独特研究机会，其中含化石岩层自世纪前运河完工以来首次暴露-这是一个难得的令人兴奋的机会，可以显着提高我们对这种丰富生物多样性的起源和演变的认识。这项国际研究和教育合作由四个美国机构和三个巴拿马机构组成--巴拿马运河项目（PCP）--侧重于系统地记录西北地区在运河流域保存的2500万年的古代生物多样性。PCP建立在先前的个人倡议的基础上，收集和研究化石、地质、以及运河流域的考古样本，在那里发现了令人瞩目的化石，使人们得以一窥保存在该流域的各种古代生物群。随着挖掘活动在未来几年的加强，五氯苯酚化石回收工作将成倍增加世界西北地区的化石标本收藏，以供立即研究，并将被收藏在博物馆供未来研究。这些化石有可能改变我们对几个重要的地球生物学问题的理解，包括：西北地区主要多样性变化的幅度和时间;中美洲动物群和植物群的地理起源，关系和传播历史;热带雨林的古老性;以及全球和区域气候变化对热带生物多样性的时间影响。巴拿马地峡切断了大西洋和太平洋之间的海洋联系，并建立了连接南北美洲的陆桥，巴拿马地峡的出现对古代海洋和陆地生物群的影响等基本问题也已成熟，可以进行科学探索，该项目培养的下一代国际科学家将在其专业领域具有技术能力，在国际上具有丰富经验的科学家，高度赞赏科学对社会的广泛影响和科学教育的重要作用。通过创新的国际经验，参与者将在国外度过学期或夏季，在实地和/或实验室工作，在合作机构教学，在博物馆实习，并学习另一种语言和文化。学生和教师将在巴拿马和美国从事各种推广项目，例如研讨会、K-12和公众访问的网站、使全球范围的研究能够访问化石的在线数据库以及双语教育课程。PIRE计划将为获得传统或非传统科学学位的学生的职业发展增加国际层面，为他们在学术或科学研究环境中的国际参与或科学教育，博物馆，非政府组织，政府机构和行业的替代职业做好准备。参与机构将使用此PIRE奖和合作伙伴资金进一步发展，国际化和加强科学基础设施能力，特别是在化石收藏和博物馆技术领域，并通过将项目期间开发的基础设施和教育工具制度化，使效益持续到项目结束后。2011年，一个新的生物多样性博物馆将在运河附近开放，该项目将开发一个双语巡回展览，巴拿马运河发现。该展览将在三个PCP博物馆和美国和巴拿马的其他地点举办，并辅之以协调的网络组件。预计Biomuseo和巡回展览每年将吸引750，000名国际游客。项目合作伙伴关系还为佛罗里达大学-佛罗里达自然历史博物馆提供了一个机会，以加强其最近重新设计的博物馆收藏信息系统，并测试新技术如何改善项目合作伙伴关系数据资源与其他在线和基于文献的科学研究数据库之间的可用性接口。这个PIRE项目有可能利用各种机构赠款和举措，包括新的教师，以增加价值，并维持PCP到未来。美国的四个主要机构是：佛罗里达大学的佛罗里达自然历史博物馆（FLMNH）、史密森热带研究所（STRI）-巴拿马校区、新墨西哥州自然历史博物馆（NMMNH）、佛罗里达州立大学-巴拿马运河校区。这三个国际机构是：Biomuseo（安孔，帕纳马）、帕纳马大学和帕纳马哺乳动物协会。巴拿马的资助伙伴包括国家科学、技术和创新秘书处（SENACYT）和帕纳马运河管理局（ACP），该奖项由国家科学基金会国际科学和工程办公室、地球科学处以及正规和非正规学习研究处共同资助。

The New World Tropics (NWT) contain extraordinarily high levels of biodiversity that are threatened today by climate change, human impacts and extinction. Yet comparatively little is known about when this biodiversity originated and how it has evolved over time. This PIRE project seizes upon a unique opportunity for research presented by the Panama Canal expansion project in which fossil-bearing rock strata are being exposed for the first time since the canal's completion a century ago - a rare and exciting opportunity to significantly advance our knowledge of the origins and evolution of this rich biodiversity. This international research and education collaboration between four U.S. and three Panamanian institutions - the Panama Canal Project (PCP) - focuses on the systematic documentation of the ancient biodiversity of the NWT in the 25-million-year record preserved in the canal basin.The PCP builds upon prior individual initiatives to collect and study fossil, geological, and archaeological samples in the canal basin where remarkable fossil discoveries provided a glimpse into the diverse ancient biota preserved in the basin. As excavation activities intensify over the next several years the PCP fossil recovery effort will exponentially add to the world's NWT fossil specimen collection for immediate study and to be housed in museum collections for future study. These fossils have the potential to transform our understanding of several significant geobiological issues including: the magnitude and timing of major episodes of diversity change in the NWT; the biogeographic origins, relationships, and dispersal history of Central American fauna and flora; the antiquity of the rainforest; and the temporal effects of global and regional climate change on tropical biodiversity. Also ripe for scientific exploration are fundamental questions relating to the impacts that the emergence of the Isthmus of Panama - which severed the marine connection between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and created the land bridge linking North and South America - had on ancient marine and terrestrial biota.The next generation of international scientists produced by this project will be technically competent in their field of specialization, internationally experienced, and have a heightened appreciation for the broader impacts of science on society and the important role of science education. Through innovative international experiences participants will spend semesters or summers abroad working in the field and/or in laboratories, teaching in partner institutions, interning in museums, and learning another language and culture. Students and faculty will be engaged in a variety of outreach projects in Panama and the U.S., such as seminars, websites accessible to K-12 and public audiences, an on-line database enabling global-wide research access to the fossils, and bilingual educational courses. The PIRE program will add an international dimension to the career development of students earning traditional or non-traditional science degrees, preparing them for international engagement in academic or scientific research environments or alternate careers in science education, museums, NGOs, government agencies, and industry.Participating institutions will use this PIRE award and partner funding to further develop, internationalize and strengthen scientific infrastructural capacity, particularly in fossil collections and museum technology areas, and sustain the benefits far beyond the lifetime of the project by institutionalizing the infrastructure and educational tools to be developed during the project. A new museum dedicated to biodiversity, the Biomuseo, will open near the canal in 2011 and this PIRE project will develop a bilingual travelling exhibit, Panama Canal Discoveries. This exhibit, complemented by coordinated web-based components, will be hosted at the three PCP museums and other venues throughout the U.S. and Panama. The Biomuseo and travelling exhibit are expected to engage a combined 750,000 international visitors annually. The PCP also presents an opportunity for the University of Florida - Florida Museum of Natural History to strengthen their recently re-designed museum collections information system, and test how new technologies might improve usability interfaces between PCP data resources and other on-line and literature-based scientific research databases. This PIRE project has the potential to leverage various institutional grants and initiatives, including new faculty, to add value to and sustain the PCP into the future. The four key U.S. Institutions are: Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH) at the University of Florida, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) - Panama campus, New Mexico Museum of Natural History (NMMNH), Florida State University - Panama Canal campus. The three international institutions are: Biomuseo (Ancón, Panamá), Universidad de Panamá, and Sociedad Mastozoológica de Panamá (SOMASPA). Panamanian funding partners include the Secretaría Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (SENACYT) and the Autoridad del Canal de Panamá (ACP).This award is co-funded by NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering, the Division of Earth Sciences, and the Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings.