Collaborative Research: Paleoenvironmental and paleoecological responses to climate change in the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum

科学证据表明，地球的气候正在迅速变化。了解生态系统如何应对气候变化将提供关键信息，帮助人类适应这些变化。这项研究将研究古代哺乳动物群落如何应对大约5300万年前的全球变暖。有关饮食，运动活动和身体大小的数据将从美国博物馆的化石中收集，以重建这些哺乳动物生活的生态系统。来自化石牙齿的化学特征将被用来解释古代环境。评估这些社区如何通过这段时间的气候变暖来应对栖息地的变化，将为理解现代生态系统如何应对未来的气候变暖提供有用的数据。该项目将包括与历史上在科学领域代表性不足的社区合作，向美洲原住民和农村社区的图书馆提供有关气候变化和化石记录的书籍。该项目还包括为得不到充分服务的高中生开设一年的课程，并为纽约市公立学校教师提供专业发展。这项研究将集中于早始新世气候最佳期开始时的暖化，当时平均气温在20万至30万年的时间内上升了约5°C。利用哺乳动物牙齿中的稳定碳同位素建立模型，重建古环境。古生态学的解释将与形态分析的基础上，部分数字化扫描的骨骼和牙齿。化石将来自两个怀俄明州盆地（风河和大角），以测试古生态学和古环境的地理差异。将用定量方法分析古生态学和哺乳动物群落结构的变化，并与古新世-始新世边界气候变暖早期的生态变化进行比较。这将提供一个测试哺乳动物对气候的反应是否以一致的、可重复的方式发生。项目外联包括与部落和农村社区的图书馆合作，提供关于气候变化的书籍和材料。它还包括城市高中学生的课程和科学教师的专业发展。所有的推广部分都是基于对有效实践的研究，并纳入形成性的评估反馈。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得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的支持。

Scientific evidence shows that Earth’s climate is rapidly changing. Understanding how ecosystems respond to climate change will provide critical information to help human populations adjust to these changes. This study will examine how ancient mammal communities responded to an episode of global warming about fifty-three million years ago. Data about diet, locomotor activity, and body size will be gathered from fossils in U.S. museums to reconstruct the ecosystems in which these mammals lived. Chemical signatures from fossil teeth will be used to interpret ancient environments. Assessing how these communities responded to habitat change through this interval of warming climate will provide useful data for understanding how modern ecosystems may respond to future warming. This project will include collaboration with communities that have been historically underrepresented in the sciences by providing sets of books about climate change and the fossil record to libraries in Native American and rural communities. The project also includes development of a year-long course for underserved high school students and professional development for New York City public school teachers.This research will focus on warming at the onset of the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum when average temperatures increased by about 5°C over an interval of 200,000 to 300,000 years. Paleoenvironments will be reconstructed by developing a model using stable carbon isotopes in mammal teeth. Paleoecological interpretations will be made with morphometric analyses based in part on digitized scans of bones and teeth. Fossils will be sourced from two Wyoming basins (Wind River and Bighorn) to test for geographic differences in paleoecology and paleoenvironments. Changes in paleoecology and mammalian community structure will be analyzed with quantitative methods, and compared to ecological changes during an earlier interval of warming climate at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. This will provide a test of whether mammalian response to climate occurred in a consistent, repeatable fashion. Project outreach includes collaborations with libraries in Tribal and rural communities, providing books and materials on climate change. It also includes a course for urban high school students and professional development for science teachers. All outreach components are based on research on effective practices, and incorporate formative evaluative feedback.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.