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: 1645520
• 负责人: Jonathan Hendricks
• 金额: $ 16.4万
• 依托单位: Paleontological Research Institute
• 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 2020-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1645520&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北美的中部。这条海滨充满了海洋生物。蜗牛和蛤生活在海底;菊石与巨大的沧龙、蛇颈龙、鲨鱼和鱼一起沿着在海底游动;与此同时，早期的鸟类和翼龙在海上漂浮或飞行。今天留下的是古生物学家收集了100多年的大量化石记录。这个时期和地区的著名化石在世界各地的博物馆展出。然而，从这个地区收集的大量化石被锁在博物馆的抽屉里。为了让科学家和公众能够接触到这些化石及其相关数据，该项目建议对这一时期和地区的无脊椎动物和脊椎动物化石进行分类，通过可搜索的电子数据库提供信息。此外，将开发各种在线资源，说明和描述这些化石并绘制其分布图。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，以突出组成物种的外观，出现和年龄，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，包括免费下载的化石3D扫描和课堂使用的打印3D模型。该项目的产品还将包括研讨会，以吸引科学教师和项目，以增加公共计划和参与机构的展览。这项工作将大大提高美国八大博物馆化石收藏的科学价值。博物馆收藏了大量有用的数据，用于研究是什么原因导致海洋物种在类似于我们星球可能很快经历的长期温室气候条件下迁移，灭绝和进化。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。从该地区曾经被西部内陆航道占据的数千个地点收集的估计164 000个标本将被建立数据库和地理参考。大约1,500个微化石、无脊椎动物和脊椎动物物种的代表将被成像。数字化记录将通过个别博物馆数据库、iDigBio和iDigPaleo在线提供。由此产生的数据将使科学家能够回答有关不同物种如何相互作用以及生态系统如何在生命历史的关键时期面对环境变化的问题。此外，这些数据将非常适合用于各种现代定量工具，包括古生态位建模（Paleoecological niche modeling，PaleoENM），并将有助于改进古气候和古海洋学模型。最后，将培养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。