Climate-vegetation interactions in a warming world: establishing a long-term collaboration on the Early Permian floras of Patagonia (Argentina)

该项目旨在为长期合作奠定基础，美国和阿根廷的科学家和学生将参与与化石区系调查相关的研究和教育活动。首席研究员（PI）和两名美国学生将与Egidio Feruglio古生物博物馆（阿根廷Trelew）的科学家合作。Ruben Cuneo和Ignacio Escapa。这些科学家将提供后勤支持，并贡献他们在当地地质和化石区系方面的丰富专业知识。PI和美国学生将在阿根廷花几个月的时间，在实验室、野外和博物馆收藏中研究早二叠纪化石区系。活动将包括调查自然历史博物馆的植物化石收藏，实地工作收集化石和古生态数据（类群的联系模式和地理分布），以及实验室工作描述新的类群。PI还将在阿根廷教授一门试点课程。研究的地质单元里约热内卢热那亚组对植物化石保存的多样性、丰富性和质量以及其早二叠纪时期都很重要。该项目将寻求发现和描述新的分类群，并将提高对植物化石多样性的认识。早二叠纪标志着典型古生代植物群向现代植物群过渡的开始，并见证了从大冰期到温暖期的过渡。该项目将在一所不授予博士学位的美国大学和阿根廷的一家自然历史博物馆之间启动一项研究和教育方面的国际伙伴关系。该项目将研究与教育活动相结合；它还将以样品和资料的形式制作教育材料，列入博物馆展品。

This project aims to lay the foundation for a long-term collaboration that will involve scientists and students from the U.S. and Argentina in research and education activities associated with investigations of fossil floras. The principal investigator (PI) and two U.S. students will collaborate with scientists at the Museo Paleontologico Egidio Feruglio (Trelew, Argentina), Drs. Ruben Cuneo and Ignacio Escapa. These scientists will provide logistic support and contribute their rich expertise on local geology and fossil floras. The PI and U.S. students will spend several months in Argentina, working in the lab, field, and museum collections on Early Permian fossil floras. Activities will include surveys of plant fossil collections in natural history museums, field work to collect fossils and paleoecological data (patterns of association and geographic distribution of taxa), and lab work to describe new taxa. The PI will also teach a pilot course in Argentina.The geologic unit studied, the Rio Genoa Formation, is important for the diversity, richness, and quality of plant fossil preservation, as well as for its Early Permian age. This project will seek to discover and characterize new taxa, and will lead to enhanced understanding of plant fossil diversity. The Early Permian marks the beginning of the transition from typical Paleozoic floras to modern floras, and witnessed the transition from a major glaciation to a warmer interval.This project will start an international partnership in research and education between a non-PhD-granting U.S. university and a natural history museum in Argentina. The project integrates research with education activities; it will also produce educational materials in the form of samples and information to be included in museum exhibits.