EAPSI: Determining the Biology and Ecology of One of Earth's Earliest animals: Dickinsonia

EAPSI：确定地球上最早的动物之一：狄更逊水母的生物学和生态学

• 批准号: 1414911
• 负责人: Scott Evans
• 金额: $ 0.51万
• 依托单位: Evans Scott
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-06-01 至 2015-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1414911&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAPSI; Determining; Biology; Ecology; Earth

Fossils of the Ediacara biota, represent the earliest evidence of macroscopic, multicellular organisms on Earth. This diverse fauna of soft-bodied organisms helps to bridge the evolutionary gap between microscopic, unicellular life forms known to exist through most of Earth's early history and the complex, familiar forms that exists today. Dickinsonia is a common and diverse member of this biota, however it remains poorly understood. Determining the ecology and biology of this early organism will provide critical insight to our understanding of the evolution of early life. Abundant fossils, including hundreds of Dickinsonia have been identified in the Flinders Ranges area of South Australia and many are housed in the South Australia Museum (SAM). Travel to South Australia will allow access to this unparalleled data set and permit collaboration with Dr. Jim Gehling (at the SAM), the premier expert on specimens from this region.Study of Dickinsonia from the Ediacaran deposits of South Australia will be conducted in order to test two hypotheses: 1) previously determined species distinctions can be identified using morphologic differences and are not an artifact of varying preservational modes; and 2) Dickinsonia had preferred environmental habitats and was one of the most abundant organism of the Ediacara biota. Data will also be used to address the extent to which size frequency and spatial patterns can inform us about the autecology and synecology of this unique organism. These hypotheses will be tested through four objectives: 1) identify morphological variability in order to investigate speciation; 2) to determine dominance and environmental preference using photographs of entire bed surfaces along with detailed reports of presence, absence, and abundance of Dickinsonia; 3) bed scale observations of size and abundance data will also be documented as well as spatial relations between Dickinsonia and other taxonomic groups to examine the ecologic importance of this ancient organism; and 4) evaluate potential preservation biases in this fossil record. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the Australian Academy of Science.

埃迪卡拉生物群的化石代表了地球上宏观多细胞生物的最早证据。这种多样化的软体生物群有助于弥合地球早期历史中已知存在的微观单细胞生命形式与今天存在的复杂熟悉形式之间的进化差距。迪金森氏菌是该生物群中常见且多样的成员，但对其了解甚少。确定这种早期生物的生态学和生物学将为我们理解早期生命的进化提供重要的见解。在南澳的弗林德斯山脉地区发现了大量的化石，其中包括数百个迪金森属的化石，许多化石被收藏在南澳博物馆（SAM）。前往南澳将允许访问这一无与伦比的数据集，并允许与吉姆·格林博士合作对南澳埃迪卡拉纪沉积物中的Dickinsonia进行研究，以验证两个假设：1）以前确定的物种区别可以通过形态差异来识别，而不是不同的分类模式的人工产物; 2）Dickinsonia是埃迪卡拉生物群中数量最多的生物之一，具有较好的生境选择性。数据也将被用来解决在何种程度上的大小，频率和空间模式可以告诉我们关于这种独特的生物体的autecology和synecology。这些假设将通过四个目标进行测试：1）确定形态变异，以调查物种形成; 2）确定优势和环境偏好使用的照片，整个床表面沿着与详细报告的存在，不存在，和丰富的狄氏藻;第三章也将记录大小和丰度数据的床尺度观测以及Dickinsonia和其他分类群之间的空间关系，研究这种古老生物的生态重要性; 4）评估这种化石记录中潜在的保存偏见。这个NSF EAPSI奖是与澳大利亚科学院合作资助的。