Critical Transitions Across the Phanerozoic: A Roundtable Workshop on Sino-US Collaborative Research on Major Events in the History of Life during the Past 600 Million Years

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In the past 20 years, some of the most exciting fossil discoveries have been found in China. Spectacular fossils are brought to light that are previous unheard of or unimagined, ranging from Precambrian embryos, Cambrian basal animal groups, transitional fishes leading to invasion of land, exquisitely preserved Mesozoic plants, birds and dinosaurs, and an abundance of Cenozoic mammals. Such an unprecedented spate of discoveries is accompanied by an equally unprecedented increase of funding in Chinese science. Amid these excitements are flourishing collaborations between US and Chinese paleontologists and related geologic disciplines. There is much to be gained in these broad collaborations. Specialists from the US bring to the table innovative approaches as well as a large existing body of knowledge, whereas Chinese scientists can rapidly acquire the state-of-the-art practice and leverage these collaborations for additional funding. Against this background of heady developments, a workshop of "Critical Transitions in the History of Life" was conceived in 2005 and co-funded by the NSF (SG&P) and its Chinese counterparts. The workshops aim to bring together US and Chinese scientists most active in their respective areas of expertise, to exchange ideas and data, and to nurture a more effective network across related fields such as geochronology, sedimentology, isotope and organic geochemistry, and paleontology. The successive workshops, roughly one in each year, have become a major catalyst for intense exchanges of ideas, and participants often form the nucleus of broad platforms of international partnership. The workshops thus played a vital role in promoting bilateral and multilateral relationships designed to become multipliers of research efforts that, by individual countries alone, would not have been possible. The PIs seek funds to bring 50 (40 outside of Los Angeles area) paleontologists and related geoscientists from US, China, and Finland, as well as administrators of relevant Chinese funding agencies, for a three-day workshop at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in Los Angeles, California. Besides a series of presentations in the first day of the workshop, the rest of the two days are divided into parallel sessions for detailed discussions about particular critical transitions. Requested funds are for travel, lodging, and meals.