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

在最后一个冰河时代结束时，大部分北美大型哺乳动物灭绝了，包括标志性的恐狼。然而，体型较小但外形相似的灰狼和土狼却兴旺发达。如今，灰狼受到人类狩猎和气候变化的威胁，自身也面临灭绝的可能。研究人员将利用南加州McKittrick和Rancho La Brea“沥青坑”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动物之间的比较将表明这些动物是如何相互竞争的，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，并为西班牙裔服务机构历史上少数族裔背景的学生提供本科研究经验。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。大部分关于北美更新世食肉动物的知识都来自加利福尼亚南部的Rancho La Brea“焦油坑”lagerstätte。麦基特里克沥青渗漏在保存和物种丰富度上是相似的，但代表了一个干旱的内陆环境，植物和动物的丰度不同。这些系统的联合分析提供了在不同环境条件下邻近生态系统中更新世食肉动物生态学、资源可利用性和物种间竞争的缺失视角。研究人员将利用生态形态学、牙齿磨损和断裂、稳定同位素分析和地质年代学等一系列方法，测量恐狼和土狼的饮食模式，以确定食物网之间的关系。他们还将在两个地点探索现代狼的生态：加拿大阿尔伯塔省伍德布法罗省立公园的内陆种群和瑞典的海洋近端种群。总之，现代和化石数据为理解现代捕食者种群面临的当前和长期挑战提供了模型。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。

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.