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Collaborative Research: Patagonian Fossil Floras, the Keys to the Origins, Biogeography, Biodiversity, and Survival of the Gondwanan Rainforest Biome

合作研究：巴塔哥尼亚化石植物群、冈瓦纳雨林生物群落起源、生物地理学、生物多样性和生存的关键

基本信息

批准号：
1556136
负责人：
Maria Gandolfo-Nixon
金额：
$ 43.62万
依托单位：
Cornell University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2016
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2016-04-01 至 2021-03-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1556136&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Collaborative Research Patagonian Fossil Floras

项目摘要

The fossil record of life on land through time predominantly comes from the Northern Hemisphere. However, the outstandingly rich, relatively little-known fossil beds of Patagonia, southern Argentina, provide an unrivaled opportunity to learn whether life responded differently to mass extinction, plate tectonics, and past climate change on the other side of the world. This project will intensively sample and analyze fossil plants and animals from Patagonia through about 20 million years, from just before the end-Cretaceous dinosaur extinction (66 million years ago), through the early recovery period and the Eocene warming interval. Through groundbreaking field discoveries and state-of-the-art lab techniques, this research aims to transform understanding of the origins of the Southern Hemispheres flora and environments, the role of Patagonia, and the legacy of surviving living fossils now located in vulnerable rainforest areas as far away as Southeast Asia. The work will generate the most complete terrestrial record and curated fossil-plant collection for the Southern Hemisphere through a critical interval of Earth history. It will produce a new, globally significant reference point for studying mass extinction, recovery, and response to climate change from a fossilized living laboratory, with direct importance for conservation and ecosystem management today. In addition to scholarly publications and meeting presentations, a large number of educational, training, and outreach activities are planned. These will include exhibits, educational resource development for public engagement with the fossil sites, and a trilingual childrens book. The project will use field paleontology and stratigraphy at a series of exceptional Patagonian fossil localities, dating from the latest Cretaceous to middle Eocene, to elevate understanding of Patagonia's uniquely informative fossil floras. Most of the fossil sites are located in the La Colonia, Lefipan, Salamanca, Penas Coloradas, and Huitrera formations of Chubut and neighboring provinces. The research will focus on five, broadly related questions targeting significant gaps in knowledge. (1) Was Patagonia a refuge from the end-Cretaceous mass extinction? (2) What are the composition, diversity, and biogeographic affinities of the earliest Paleocene floras and insect faunas? (3) Do the Eocene floras and faunas contain lineages that now survive in South America, Asia, and Africa, as well as Australasia? (4) Do the Eocene floras document the earliest phases of South American isolation by showing a loss of Gondwanan taxa and an increase in New World taxa through time? (5) How much geologic time does the prolific early Eocene site at Laguna del Hunco represent, and what processes formed these unique deposits that preserved one of the most diverse fossil biotas in the world?

陆地生命的化石记录主要来自北方半球。然而，阿根廷南部巴塔哥尼亚丰富而鲜为人知的化石层提供了一个无与伦比的机会，让我们了解生命是否对世界另一端的大规模灭绝、板块构造和过去的气候变化做出了不同的反应。该项目将集中采样和分析巴塔哥尼亚约2000万年的植物和动物化石，从白垩纪末恐龙灭绝（6600万年前）之前，到早期恢复期和始新世变暖间隔。通过开创性的实地发现和最先进的实验室技术，这项研究旨在改变对南半球植物群和环境起源的理解，巴塔哥尼亚的作用，以及现在位于东南亚脆弱雨林地区的幸存活化石的遗产。这项工作将在地球历史的关键时期为南半球产生最完整的陆地记录和精心策划的化石植物收藏。它将产生一个新的，具有全球意义的参考点，用于研究大规模灭绝，恢复，以及从一个生物实验室应对气候变化，对今天的保护和生态系统管理具有直接的重要性。除了学术出版物和会议介绍外，还计划开展大量教育、培训和外联活动。这些活动将包括展览、为公众参与化石遗址开发教育资源，以及一本三语儿童读物。该项目将在一系列特殊的巴塔哥尼亚化石地点使用野外古生物学和地层学，从最新的白垩纪到始新世中期，以提高对巴塔哥尼亚独特的信息化石植物群的理解。大多数化石地点位于Chubut和邻近省份的La科洛尼亚、Lefipan、萨拉曼卡、Penas Coloradas和Huitrera地层。研究将侧重于五个广泛相关的问题，针对知识的重大差距。(1)巴塔哥尼亚是白垩纪末大灭绝的避难所吗？(2)古新世最早的植物群和昆虫群的组成、多样性和地理亲缘关系是什么？(3)始新世的植物群和动物群中是否包含了现存于南美洲、亚洲、非洲以及澳大拉西亚的谱系？(4)始新世植物群是否通过显示冈瓦纳生物群的消失和新大陆生物群的增加来记录南美洲与世隔绝的最早阶段？(5)拉古纳德尔亨科多产的早始新世遗址代表了多少地质时代，是什么过程形成了这些独特的沉积物，保存了世界上最多样化的生物化石之一？