Evolutionary and Paleoecological Change Across the Cretaceous Paleogene Boundary, Antarctica: Morphometric and Geochemical Evidence from Mollusk Faunas

智力价值：该项目的主要目标是研究白垩纪-古近纪大灭绝(约6500万年前)化石的形态、分类、生态结构和地球化学变化。之前在南极洲詹姆斯罗斯岛盆地发现的露头包含了许多保存完好的动植物化石，这是检验进化假说和可能的环境与灭绝的联系的理想选择。该项目将专注于一个已灭绝的化石群(菊石头足类)和两个被认为进化速度慢得多的群(双壳类和鹦鹉螺软体动物)。这项研究将包括一种新的温度地球化学指标：块状氧同位素测量。这项研究将对南部高纬度地区的海洋环境产生新的见解，包括在最具破坏性的大灭绝之一之前和之后。更广泛的影响：更广泛的影响将包括华盛顿大学(UW)的一名本科生和一名研究生直接参与这项研究，这是一个独特的机会。该项目将允许职业生涯早期的PI亨廷顿参与南极研究。亨廷顿将把南极研究纳入她在K-12教育中促进STEM的努力中。她有一个职业项目，其中包括在她的研究中来自少数族裔高中的教师，并将主持一名教师作为该项目的一部分。亨廷顿和沃德都将通过同行评议的出版物和他们的UW教学来广泛传播这一结果。沃德有通过科学书籍向公众宣传的长期记录，并将把结果纳入他的新书中，这本书涉及古生物学和物种灭绝。沃德将把研究结果纳入伦敦自然历史博物馆的一个新展览中。

Intellectual Merit:The main goal of the project is to study morphology, taxonomy, ecological structure, and geochemical variations in fossils across the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction (~ 65 million years ago). Previously visited outcrops in the James Ross Island Basin in Antarctica contain numerous well-preserved animal and plant fossils which are ideal for testing evolutionary hypotheses and possible environmental links to extinctions. The project will focus on an extinct fossil group (ammonite cephalopods) that characteristically showed rapid evolutionary change, and two groups which are thought to evolve at much slower rates (bivalve and nautilid mollusks). The research will include a new geochemical proxy for temperature: clumped oxygen isotope measurements. The study will yield new insights into the marine environments at high southern latitudes both before and after one of the most devastating mass extinctions. Broader impacts:Broader impacts will include the direct engagement of one undergraduate and one graduate student at the University of Washington (UW) into the research, a unique opportunity. The project will allow an early career PI, Huntington, to become involved with Antarctic research. Huntington will incorporate the Antarctic Research into her efforts at promoting STEM in K-12 education. She has a CAREER project that includes teachers from minority serving high schools in her research, and will host one teacher as part of this project. Both Huntington and Ward will broadly disseminate the results through peer reviewed publications and their UW teaching. Ward has a long track record of outreach through science books for the public and will incorporate the results into his newest book, which involves paleontology and extinctions. Ward will incorporate the results into a new exhibit at the Natural History Museum of London.