Collaborative Research: Comparative Taphonomy and Time-Averaging of Mollusk-Echinoid Assemblages using High-Performance Radiocarbon Dating System

合作研究：使用高性能放射性碳测年系统对软体动物-海胆组合进行比较埋藏学和时间平均

• 批准号: 2127623
• 负责人: Michal Kowalewski
• 金额: $ 39.36万
• 依托单位: University of Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2127623&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Comparative; Taphonomy; Time

The goal of this project is to assess what happens after death with remains of shelly animals (mollusks and sea urchins) that dominate many seafloors today and are widespread in the marine fossil record. Do those shells last for millennia or perish quickly? Because shells of mollusks and tests of sea urchins are abundant in many marine habitats, how fast or slow they perish may affect the carbon cycle, affect sediments in marine habitats, influence how sedimentary rocks form, and impact the resolution and quality of the fossil record. Moreover, there is tentative evidence that mollusks and sea urchins may differ dramatically in shell durability. Mollusk shells probably persist for centuries around the seafloor, whereas sea urchin tests only survive months or possibly years. This project will compare the post-mortem fate of mollusk shells and sea urchin tests and associated predictions across various types of marine habitats. By combining field surveys of live and dead animals and radiocarbon dating of dead remains, the project will quantify the survival time of mollusk and echinoid remains and use field data to test predictions based on expected shell destruction rates. The results will advance our understanding of marine sedimentation processes, formation of the sedimentary rock and fossil records, possible biases due to variable preservation of different animal groups, and the temporal resolution of fossil samples. The project will provide a direct opportunity for testing a new advanced strategy of radiocarbon dating with a real potential to advance our general ability to date fossil samples quickly and efficiently. The project will also serve as a platform for training a new generation of scientists and broadening participation of groups underrepresented in biology and geology. In addition, educational movies using novel immersive digital technology will be used to convey the excitement of conducting scientific research in marine settings. The project will engender international partnerships with the Commonwealth of Bahamas and provide collaborative bridges connecting students and researchers from public universities in Arizona and Florida.This project aims to improve our understanding fossilization processes that lead to preservation or destruction of benthic mollusks and echinoids, which are both important components of the marine fossil record. The main goal is to assess the hypothesis that these two groups of animals differ in skeletal durability and fossilization potential. By integrating live-dead field surveys and new generation radiocarbon instrumentation, we will test three predictions that stem from this hypothesis: (1) time-averaging, variation in age of specimens, is orders of magnitude higher for mollusks compared to echinoids; (2) live-dead specimen ratios are orders of magnitude lower for mollusks than for echinoids; and (3) specimen-fragment ratio is significantly higher for mollusks than for echinoids. These predictions will be tested using surface and subsurface samples from present-day seafloors around Florida and the Bahamas. The project will target diverse carbonate and siliciclastic settings to assess if the observed patterns are generalizable across different habitat types. The project will produce 45 live-dead surveys of mollusks and echinoids at 15 sampling sites across five localities. These field data will be augmented by radiocarbon dating of 1000 individual specimens of mollusks and echinoids. This extraordinarily large number of radiocarbon ages is now feasible using the new NSF-supported MICADAS accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) at Northern Arizona University (NAU) . Quantifying taphonomic differences between two major groups of marine invertebrates will advance our understanding of sedimentological processes related to formation of biogenic sedimentary rocks, the role of shell-producing organisms as carbon sinks or carbon sources, and the quality and temporal resolution of paleontological data. The proposed approach is designed as a broadly applicable research strategy transferrable to study systems. In terms of broader impacts activities, the project will advance STEM careers of one postdoctoral researcher, one graduate student, and ~12 undergraduate students, with specific focus on recruitment and career development of minority STEM students. The student training will encompass comprehensive research skills and will be vertically integrated to benefit mentoring skills of early career scientists. Outreach and education materials using 360° immersive video technology will include 3D-augmented reality movies of seafloor exploration by SCUBA (freely accessible as immersive 3D YouTube movies). The partnership between UF and NAU will facilitate networking of minority students in Florida and Arizona, and the international field work in partnership with the Gerace Research Centre will engage Bahamian students.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.

这个项目的目标是评估有壳动物（软体动物和海胆）死后会发生什么，这些动物今天在许多海底占主导地位，在海洋化石记录中很普遍。这些贝壳是能保存几千年还是很快就消失了？由于软体动物的壳和海胆的测试在许多海洋栖息地丰富，他们如何快速或缓慢地死亡可能会影响碳循环，影响海洋栖息地的沉积物，影响沉积岩的形成，并影响化石记录的分辨率和质量。此外，有初步证据表明，软体动物和海胆可能在壳的耐久性方面存在巨大差异。软体动物的贝壳可能在海底存活几个世纪，而海胆的测试只能存活几个月或几年。该项目将比较软体动物贝壳和海胆的死后命运测试以及各种海洋生境的相关预测。该项目将对活的和死的动物进行实地调查，并对死的遗骸进行放射性碳测年，从而量化软体动物和海胆遗骸的存活时间，并利用实地数据检验根据预期的贝壳破坏率作出的预测。这些结果将促进我们对海洋沉积过程、沉积岩和化石记录的形成、不同动物群的可变保存所导致的可能偏差以及化石样本的时间分辨率的理解。该项目将为测试放射性碳测年的新的先进战略提供直接机会，该战略具有真实的潜力，可提高我们快速有效地测定化石样本日期的总体能力。该项目还将成为培训新一代科学家和扩大生物学和地质学领域代表性不足群体参与的平台。此外，使用新颖的沉浸式数字技术的教育电影将被用来传达在海洋环境中进行科学研究的兴奋。该项目将与巴哈马联邦建立国际伙伴关系，并为亚利桑那州和佛罗里达公立大学的学生和研究人员提供合作桥梁，旨在提高我们对导致海底软体动物和海胆保存或破坏的生物化过程的认识，这两种动物都是海洋化石记录的重要组成部分。主要目的是评估这两组动物在骨骼耐久性和骨化潜力方面存在差异的假设。通过结合野外调查和新一代放射性碳测量仪器，我们将检验源于这一假设的三个预测：（1）时间平均，标本年龄的变化，软体动物的数量级高于棘皮动物;（2）软体动物的活死标本比低于棘皮动物;（3）软体动物的骨碎片率显著高于棘球蚴。这些预测将使用佛罗里达和巴哈马群岛周围现今海底的表面和地下样本进行测试。该项目将针对不同的碳酸盐和硅质岩环境，以评估观察到的模式是否可在不同的生境类型中推广。该项目将在五个地区的15个采样点对软体动物和海胆进行45次活死调查。这些实地数据将通过对1000个软体动物和海胆标本进行放射性碳测年得到补充。现在，使用北方亚利桑那大学（NAU）的新的NSF支持的MICADAS加速器质谱仪（AMS），这种非常大量的放射性碳年龄是可行的。量化两大类海洋无脊椎动物之间的埋藏差异将促进我们对与生物沉积岩形成相关的沉积学过程的理解，产壳生物作为碳汇或碳源的作用，以及古生物学数据的质量和时间分辨率。所提出的方法被设计为一个广泛适用的研究策略可转移到研究系统。在更广泛的影响活动方面，该项目将推进一名博士后研究员、一名研究生和约12名本科生的STEM职业生涯，特别关注少数族裔STEM学生的招聘和职业发展。学生培训将包括全面的研究技能，并将垂直整合，以利于早期职业科学家的指导技能。使用360°沉浸式视频技术的宣传和教育材料将包括SCUBA海底勘探的3D增强现实电影（可作为沉浸式3D YouTube电影免费访问）。UF和NAU之间的伙伴关系将促进少数民族学生在佛罗里达和亚利桑那州的网络，并与杰雷斯研究中心合作的国际实地工作将参与巴哈马学生。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估值得支持。