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

陆地生物的化石记录主要来自北半球。然而，阿根廷南部巴塔哥尼亚丰富而相对鲜为人知的化石层，提供了一个无与伦比的机会，让我们了解地球另一端的生命是否对大灭绝、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的植物和动物化石，时间跨度约为2000万年，从白垩纪末期恐龙灭绝（6600万年前）之前，到早期恢复期和始新世变暖期。通过突破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，以及远在东南亚的脆弱雨林地区幸存的活化石的遗产。这项工作将产生最完整的陆地记录，并通过地球历史的关键时期为南半球策划化石植物收藏。它将为从化石生物实验室研究大规模灭绝、恢复和对气候变化的响应提供一个新的、具有全球意义的参考点，对今天的保护和生态系统管理具有直接重要性。除了学术出版物和会议报告外，还计划了大量的教育、培训和推广活动。这些活动将包括展览、为公众参与化石遗址而开发的教育资源，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，可以追溯到白垩纪晚期到始新世中期，以提高对巴塔哥尼亚独特的信息化石区系的理解。大多数化石遗址位于科洛尼亚、勒菲潘、萨拉曼卡、Penas Coloradas和Chubut及其邻近省份的Huitrera地层。研究将集中在五个广泛相关的问题上，针对知识上的重大差距。(1)巴塔哥尼亚是白垩纪末期生物大灭绝的避难所吗？(2)最早古新世植物区系和昆虫区系的组成、多样性和生物地理亲缘关系如何？(3)始新世的动植物群中是否有现存于南美洲、亚洲、非洲和澳大拉西亚的谱系？(4)始新世植物区系是否通过显示冈瓦纳分类群的消失和新世界分类群的增加，记录了南美洲隔离的最早阶段？(5)拉古纳del Hunco的始新世早期遗址代表了多少地质年代？这些保存了世界上最多样化化石生物群之一的独特沉积物是由什么过程形成的？

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?