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）拥有极高的生物多样性，但如今却受到气候变化、人类影响和物种灭绝的威胁。然而，相对而言，人们对这种生物多样性的起源以及它是如何随着时间进化的知之甚少。巴拿马运河扩建项目提供了一个独特的研究机会，自一个世纪前运河完工以来，含化石的岩层首次被暴露出来，这是一个难得而令人兴奋的机会，可以大大提高我们对这种丰富的生物多样性的起源和演变的认识。巴拿马运河项目（PCP）是由四个美国机构和三个巴拿马机构开展的国际研究和教育合作项目，其重点是系统地记录西北西北地区保存在运河流域的2500万年的古代生物多样性记录。PCP建立在先前的个人倡议的基础上，收集和研究运河流域的化石、地质和考古样本，其中引人注目的化石发现提供了对盆地中保存的各种古代生物群的一瞥。在接下来的几年里，随着挖掘活动的加强，PCP化石的恢复工作将成倍地增加世界上NWT化石标本的收集，以供立即研究，并被收藏在博物馆里供将来研究。这些化石有可能改变我们对几个重要的地质生物学问题的理解，包括：西北西北地区主要多样性变化事件的规模和时间；中美洲动植物的生物地理起源、关系和散布史；热带雨林的古老；全球和区域气候变化对热带生物多样性的时间效应。巴拿马地峡的出现——它切断了大西洋和太平洋之间的海洋联系，并形成了连接南北美洲的大陆桥——对古代海洋和陆地生物群的影响是一些基本问题，这些问题也已经成熟，可以进行科学探索。本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，具有国际经验，并对科学对社会的广泛影响和科学教育的重要作用有更高的认识。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参与各种外联项目，如研讨会、面向K-12和公众的网站、使全球研究人员能够访问化石的在线数据库，以及双语教育课程。该项目将为获得传统或非传统科学学位的学生的职业发展增加一个国际化的维度，为他们在学术或科研环境中的国际参与或在科学教育、博物馆、非政府组织、政府机构和行业的替代职业做好准备。参与机构将利用该项目奖金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，在项目的整个生命周期之外保持效益。一个致力于生物多样性的新博物馆——生物博物馆，将于2011年在运河附近开放，这个项目将开发一个双语巡回展览，巴拿马运河的发现。这次展览将在三个PCP博物馆以及美国和巴拿马各地的其他场所举办，并辅以协调的网络组成部分。生物展览馆和巡回展览预计每年将吸引75万名国际游客。PCP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，以加强他们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PCP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界面。该项目有潜力利用各种机构资助和倡议，包括新教师，为PCP增加价值并维持其未来。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），史密森尼热带研究所(STRI) -巴拿马校区，新墨西哥自然历史博物馆（NMMNH），佛罗里达州立大学-巴拿马运河校区。三个国际机构是：Biomuseo （Ancón, panam<e:1>）、panamuniversidad de panam<e:1>和Sociedad Mastozoológica de panam<e:1> (SOMASPA)。巴拿马的资助伙伴包括Secretaría国家科学中心、Tecnología e Innovación （SENACYT）和巴拿马运河管理局<e:1>（运河管理局）。该奖项由美国国家科学基金会国际科学与工程办公室、地球科学部和正式和非正式环境学习研究部共同资助。

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.