Exceptionally well-preserved Early Cretaceous seed plants from Mongolia

来自蒙古的保存异常完好的早白垩世种子植物

• 批准号: 1348456
• 负责人: Patrick Herendeen
• 金额: $ 46.54万
• 依托单位: Chicago Horticultural Society
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-02-01 至 2018-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1348456&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Exceptionally; well; preserved; Early; Cretaceous

The Early Cretaceous of Mongolia is well known for its fossil dinosaurs and other vertebrates, but fossil plants from Mongolia are very poorly studied. This project will examine diverse assemblages of fossil plants from multiple Early Cretaceous age localities that are yielding new, abundant, and exceptionally well-preserved seed plant fossils. The goal of the research is to discover, characterize, document and understand the implications of these newly discovered fossil plants that date to a critical interval for changes in the flora of the Earth. The fossil material will be studied primarily using scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution X-ray microtomography. The excellent preservation provides a rare opportunity to reconstruct ?whole plants? from multiple co-occurring fossils of extinct Cretaceous species. This study is important in several respects. The overarching objective for the study is to inform a deeper understanding of seed plant evolution. The research will add significantly to knowledge about extinct seed plants during the Early Cretaceous, an interval of major and rapid evolutionary and vegetational change. The project will strengthen international collaboration among US, Japanese and Mongolian scientists and students. Student involvement and communicating science to the public are institutional priorities and will be accomplished through on hands training for students, feature articles, website presentations, and exhibition outreach at the Chicago Botanic Garden and the Field Museum.

蒙古早白垩世以其恐龙化石和其他脊椎动物化石而闻名，但对蒙古植物化石的研究却很少。该项目将研究来自多个早白垩世地区的不同植物化石组合，这些植物化石将产生新的、丰富的且保存异常完好的种子植物化石。这项研究的目标是发现、描述、记录和理解这些新发现的植物化石的影响，这些化石可以追溯到地球植物区系变化的关键时期。将主要使用扫描电子显微镜和高分辨率 X 射线显微断层扫描来研究化石材料。良好的保存为重建“整株植物”提供了难得的机会。来自已灭绝的白垩纪物种的多个共存化石。 这项研究在几个方面都很重要。该研究的首要目标是加深对种子植物进化的了解。这项研究将显着增加对早白垩世时期灭绝种子植物的了解，这是一个重大而快速的进化和植被变化的时期。该项目将加强美国、日本和蒙古科学家和学生之间的国际合作。学生参与和向公众传播科学是机构的优先事项，将通过对学生的实践培训、专题文章、网站演示以及芝加哥植物园和菲尔德博物馆的展览推广来完成。