EAR-PF Bringing fossil cephalopods back to life: virtual and physical assessment of hydrostatics, hydrodynamics, and functional morphology

David J. Peterman获得美国国家科学基金会EAR博士后奖学金，在Dr. Kathleen Ritterbush的指导下在犹他大学开展研究和教育计划。本项目主要研究头足类化石（如鹦鹉螺类、菊石类等）的水生生物力学，以揭示壳的形态与功能之间的关系。在它们漫长的进化史中，数以千计的头足类动物在充当海洋生态系统的重要组成部分的同时，尝试了截然不同的外壳形态。尽管它们数量丰富、种类多样、更替迅速，但人们对它们特有的生活模式或生活习惯，以及某些外壳特征的功能形态知之甚少。因此，了解这些不同生物的特性对于将形态学整合到当前对海洋生态系统关键组成部分的进化和灭绝、生物地理扩散的制约因素和古生态学的把握中是必要的。该计划将建立一个自给自足的、最先进的水生生物力学实验室，同时促进工程和计算机科学新兴技术的教育，从而促进多学科合作的重要性。为了研究有壳头足类动物的生态和进化之间的相互作用，PI将开发一个尖端的工作流程，用于在虚拟和物理环境中生成中性浮力头足类动物模型。提出的化石虚拟建模作为层析成像技术的替代方法。此外，它们的物理对应物可以用于评估混乱的真实世界设置中的复杂物理特性。这样的模型将允许计算在这些动物的生命中起作用的物理特性。这些特性包括流体静力学（中性浮力、稳定性、生命方向、运动方向效率的条件）和流体动力学（阻力、升力和游泳能力）。这些特性对于更好地理解运动、生活方式、生活习惯、古生态以及作用于目标头足类动物的选择压力（从个体群落的规模到整个形态）具有重要意义。由于有壳头足类动物具有广泛的时间范围、普遍性、多样性和广泛的地理分布，因此评估其体内物理特性对于全面重建显生宙大部分时期的几乎任何海洋生态系统都至关重要。该项目得到了地球科学部沉积地质学和古生物学项目的共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

An NSF EAR Postdoctoral Fellowship has been granted to David J. Peterman to carry out research and education plans at the University of Utah under the mentorship of Dr. Kathleen Ritterbush. The research project focuses on investigating the aquatic biomechanics of fossil cephalopods (e.g. nautiloids, ammonoids, etc.) to disentangle the relationship between shell form and function. During their extensive evolutionary history, thousands of cephalopod species experimented with wildly different shell morphologies while serving as vital components of marine ecosystems. Despite their abundance, diversity, and rapid turnover, little is known about the specific modes of life or life habit assumed by characteristic morphotypes, or the functional morphology of certain shell features. Therefore, understanding the properties of these diverse organisms is necessary to integrate morphology into the current grasp of evolution and extinction, the constraints on biogeographic dispersal, and the paleoecology of these key components of marine ecosystems. The project will construct a self-sustaining, state-of-the-art, aquatic biomechanics laboratory while fostering education in emerging technologies in engineering and computer science, and thus promoting the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration. In order to investigate the interaction between ecology and evolution for shelled cephalopods, the PI will develop a cutting-edge workflow for the generation of neutrally buoyant cephalopod models in virtual and physical settings. The proposed virtual modeling of fossils serves as an alternate approach to tomographic techniques. Additionally, their physical counterparts can be used to assess complex physical properties in a chaotic, real world setting. Such models will allow the computation of physical properties that acted on these animals during life. These properties include hydrostatics (the conditions for neutral buoyancy, stability, life orientation, the directional efficiency of movement) and hydrodynamics (drag, lift, and swimming capabilities). Such properties are fundamental to better understand the constraints on locomotion, modes of life, life habit, paleoecology, and the selective pressures acting on the targeted cephalopods (from the scale of individual communities to entire morphotypes). Due to the vast temporal range, ubiquity, diversity, and extensive geographic distributions of shelled cephalopods, evaluating their syn vivo physical properties is vital to fully-reconstruct almost any marine ecosystem during most of the Phanerozoic Eon. This project received co-funding from the Sedimentary Geology and Paleobiology program in the Earth Science division.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.