Collaborative Research: Wolf RACE (Resource Availability and Competition in Ecosystems) - Insights from The McKittrick and Rancho La Brea Lagerstatte

合作研究：Wolf RACE（生态系统中的资源可用性和竞争）- 来自 McKittrick 和 Rancho La Brea Lagerstatte 的见解

• 批准号: 2138164
• 负责人: Lisa White
• 金额: $ 13.72万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-08-01 至 2025-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2138164&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Wolf; RACE; Resource

At the end of the last ice age, most of North America’s large mammals became extinct, including the iconic dire wolf. However, the smaller but physically similar grey wolf and coyote flourished. Today, grey wolves are threatened by human hunting and climate change and face the possibility of extinction themselves. The researchers will use the fossil record of the McKittrick and Rancho La Brea “tar pits” in southern California to investigate the biology of dire wolves and other canids. Comparisons within and among individual animals will indicate how these animals competed with one another, including members of their own species. This research will be complemented by studying modern grey wolf populations. Together, these data can inform and promote species survival today. This work will support a PhD student, two early career scientists, and undergraduate research experiences for students from historically minoritized backgrounds at a Hispanic Serving Institution. The researchers will also develop curriculum and learning modules to spread awareness of the McKittrick fossils and environmental challenges facing modern wolves. Most knowledge of North American Pleistocene carnivores is from the Rancho La Brea “tar pits” lagerstätte located in southern California. The McKittrick asphalt seep is similar in preservation and species richness, but represents an arid, inland setting with different floral and faunal abundances. Joint analysis of these systems provides a missing perspective of Pleistocene carnivore ecology, resource availability, and competition among species in adjacent ecosystems with different environmental conditions. The researchers will measure dietary patterns in dire wolves and coyotes to determine food web relationships using a suite of approaches: ecomorphology, tooth wear and fracture, stable isotope analysis, and geochronology. They will also probe modern wolf ecology at two sites: a landlocked population from Wood Buffalo Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada and a marine proximal population in Sweden. Together, the modern and fossil data provide models for understanding current and long-term challenges facing modern predator populations.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.

在最后一个冰河时代结束时，北美的大部分大型哺乳动物都灭绝了，包括标志性的可怕的狼。然而，体型较小但体型相似的灰狼和土狼却蓬勃发展。如今，灰狼受到人类狩猎和气候变化的威胁，面临着灭绝的可能性。研究人员将利用加州南部麦基特里克和兰乔拉布雷亚“焦油坑”的化石记录来调查恐狼和其他犬科动物的生物学。个体动物内部和个体之间的比较将表明这些动物如何相互竞争，包括它们自己物种的成员。这项研究将通过研究现代灰狼种群来补充。总之，这些数据可以为今天的物种生存提供信息和促进。这项工作将支持一名博士生，两名早期职业科学家，以及来自西班牙裔服务机构历史上少数民族背景的学生的本科研究经验。研究人员还将开发课程和学习模块，以传播对麦基特里克化石和现代狼面临的环境挑战的认识。大多数关于北美更新世食肉动物的知识来自于位于加州南部的拉布雷亚牧场“焦油坑”。McKittrick沥青渗漏在保存和物种丰富度方面相似，但代表了具有不同植物和动物丰度的干旱内陆环境。这些系统的联合分析提供了一个缺失的观点更新世食肉动物生态，资源的可用性，在不同的环境条件下相邻的生态系统中的物种之间的竞争。研究人员将测量可怕的狼和郊狼的饮食模式，以确定食物网的关系，使用一套方法：生态形态学，牙齿磨损和骨折，稳定同位素分析和地质年代学。他们还将在两个地点探索现代狼的生态：加拿大阿尔伯塔伍德布法罗省立公园的内陆种群和瑞典的海洋近缘种群。该奖项反映了NSF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。