Digitization TCN: Collaborative Research: The Cretaceous World: Digitizing Fossils to Reconstruct Evolving Ecosystems in the Western Interior Seaway

数字化 TCN：合作研究：白垩纪世界：数字化化石以重建西部内陆航道不断演变的生态系统

• 批准号: 1601891
• 负责人: Neil Landman
• 金额: $ 17.92万
• 依托单位: American Museum Natural History
• 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: 2016-07-01 至 2019-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1601891&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Digitization; TCN; Collaborative; Research; Cretaceous

Between 65 and 100 million years ago, during the time that dinosaurs walked the earth, a large, tropical seaway covered the central part of what is now North America. This seaway teemed with marine life. Snails and clams lived on the seafloor; ammonites, along with giant mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, sharks, and fish, swam about; at the same time early birds and pterosaurs floated on or flew above the seaway. What remains today is a prolific fossil record that has been collected by paleontologists for over 100 years. Notable fossils from this time period and region are on display at museums around the world. However, the vast bulk of fossils collected from this region are locked away in museum drawers. To provide scientists and the general public access to these fossils and their associated data, this project proposes to digitize invertebrate and vertebrate fossils from this time period and region, making information accessible through searchable electronic databases. Additionally, a variety of online resources illustrating and describing these fossils and mapping their distributions will be developed. A freely accessible online textbook of paleontology will be generated and a website and App will be developed to highlight the appearances, occurrences, and ages of constituent species, to help students and aspiring paleontologists identify and learn about these fossils. The project plans to generate a variety of curricular materials for K-12 education, including 3-D scans of fossils for free download and printed 3-D models for classroom use. Products of this project will also include workshops to engage science teachers and items to augment public programs and exhibits at participating institutions. This work will greatly increase the scientific value of eight major U.S. museum collections of fossils. The museum collections contain large amounts of data useful for studying what causes marine species to migrate, go extinct, and evolve during a long period of greenhouse climate conditions similar to those our planet may soon experience. These data have relevance for evaluating how global change has and will continue to affect life on earth. An estimated 164,000 specimens collected from thousands of locations, in the region once occupied by the Western Interior Seaway, will be databased and georeferenced. Representatives from each of roughly 1,500 microfossil, invertebrate, and vertebrate species will be imaged. The digitized records will be made available online via individual museum databases, iDigBio, and iDigPaleo. The resultant data will enable scientists to answer questions about how different species interact and ecosystems change in the face of environmental shifts during a key time in the history of life. Moreover, the data will be ideal for use with an assortment of modern quantitative tools -including paleoecological niche modeling (PaleoENM) - and will help improve paleoclimate and paleoceanographic models. Finally, several undergraduate and graduate students will be trained. Results of the project will be published at the following url: www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org.

在6500万到1亿年前，恐龙在地球上行走的时候，一条巨大的热带海道覆盖了现在的北美中部。这条海道上有很多海洋生物。蜗牛和文蛤生活在海底；菊石与巨型马赛龙、蛇颈龙、鲨鱼和鱼一起游动；同时，早期的鸟类和翼龙在海面上漂浮或在上面飞行。今天留下的是古生物学家收集了100多年的多产化石记录。这一时期和地区值得注意的化石在世界各地的博物馆展出。然而，从该地区收集的大部分化石都被锁在博物馆的抽屉里。为了让科学家和普通公众能够获得这些化石及其相关数据，该项目建议将这一时期和地区的无脊椎动物和脊椎动物化石数字化，使信息能够通过可搜索的电子数据库获得。此外，还将开发各种在线资源，说明和描述这些化石，并绘制它们的分布图。将生成一本免费访问的古生物学在线教科书，并将开发一个网站和应用程序，以突出显示组成物种的外观、产状和年龄，以帮助学生和有抱负的古生物学家识别和了解这些化石。该项目计划为K-12教育制作各种课程材料，包括免费下载的3D化石扫描和供课堂使用的打印3D模型。该项目的产品还将包括聘请科学教师的研讨会，以及加强参与机构的公共项目和展览的项目。这项工作将大大增加美国博物馆收藏的八件主要化石的科学价值。博物馆的藏品包含大量数据，有助于研究是什么原因导致海洋物种在长期的温室气候条件下迁徙、灭绝和进化，这些气候条件与我们的星球可能很快经历的情况相似。这些数据对于评估全球变化已经并将继续影响地球上的生命具有相关性。从数千个地点收集的估计164,000个标本将被数据库和地理参考，这些标本曾经被西部内陆航道占据。来自大约1500个微化石、无脊椎动物和脊椎动物物种的代表将被成像。数字化的记录将通过单独的博物馆数据库、iDigBio和iDigPaleo在线提供。由此产生的数据将使科学家能够回答这样的问题：在生命历史的关键时期，面对环境变化，不同物种如何相互作用，生态系统如何变化。此外，这些数据将非常适合与各种现代定量工具--包括古生态位模型(PaleoENM)--一起使用，并将有助于改进古气候和古海洋模型。最后，还将培训几名本科生和研究生。该项目的结果将在以下网址公布：www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org。