Saving a Lost Ecosystem: Restoring and exploring the exceptionally preserved fossils of the Cleveland Shale (Late Devonian)

拯救失去的生态系统：恢复和探索保存完好的克利夫兰页岩化石（晚泥盆世）

• 批准号: 2230809
• 负责人: Caitlin Colleary
• 金额: $ 78.52万
• 依托单位: Cleveland Museum of Natural History
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-02-01 至 2026-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2230809&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Saving; Lost; Ecosystem; Restoring; exploring

The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is currently undergoing a large-scale transformation project, which includes the building of new permanent exhibits and storage facilities. The Museum’s paleontology collections house fossils from a unique time in Earth’s history, when what is now Cleveland, Ohio, was a tropical ocean that supported an unfamiliar ecosystem. Many of the distinctive plants and animals found here went extinct when the environment changed dramatically at the end of the Devonian Period (~358 million years ago). The fossil record in Cleveland provides a remarkable glimpse into the past impacts of drastic environmental change—information with far-reaching implications for the future. The Museum has the world’s largest collection of Cleveland-area Devonian fossils; however, they are currently at risk due to inadequate storage conditions. The Museum’s scientists recognize that now is the time to save this valuable record of Earth’s past. Their goal is to build a stable environment for this collection, document all the evidence it contains before it degrades further, and expand access to enable more scientists to use this extraordinary resource. Additionally, photographing and 3D-scanning the fossils will allow global audiences to interact with them in new and exciting ways.The Devonian Period ended in millions of years of upheaval marked by drastic environmental change, multiple extinction events, and the loss of the majority of marine life. These extinctions had dramatic impacts on life in the oceans and on vertebrate evolution. Numerous traits of modern vertebrates—including jaws, teeth, and pelvic fins—first appeared in the Devonian fish found in the geologic formation known as the Cleveland Shale Member. Many of the species uncovered in these local Cleveland deposits are not found anywhere else in the world. The fossils are exceptionally preserved, retaining features like soft tissues and rarely found morphological information. However, pyrite disease is currently threatening the preservation of the Museum’s Devonian fossil collection. Reactive pyrite that occurs naturally in the Cleveland Shale can oxidize in humid conditions, creating iron sulfide, which can destroy morphological features and entire specimens. Therefore, the Museum’s goal is to move the collection into a climate-controlled space with new cabinets, publish the vertebrate paleontology dataset to global aggregators for the first time, make and publish 3D surface scans of specimens to retain information about morphology, and use these records in educational outreach to teach the public about how much the Earth has changed and will continue to change.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.

克利夫兰自然历史博物馆目前正在进行一个大规模的转型项目，其中包括建造新的永久性展览和存储设施。该博物馆的古生物学收藏家从地球历史上独特的时代开始，当时俄亥俄州的克利夫兰是一个支持一个陌生的生态系统的热带海洋。当环境在泥盆纪时期（约3.58亿年前）发生巨大变化时，这里发现的许多独特的动植物灭绝了。克利夫兰的化石记录对急剧环境变化的过去影响有了极大的了解，这对未来有深远的影响。博物馆拥有世界上最大的克利夫兰地区泥盆纪化石。但是，由于存储条件不足，它们目前处于危险之中。博物馆的科学家认识到，现在是时候保存地球过去的宝贵记录了。他们的目标是为该集合建立一个稳定的环境，记录其在进一步退化之前所包含的所有证据，并扩大访问权限，以使更多的科学家能够使用这种非凡资源。此外，化石的摄影和3D扫描将使全球受众以新的和令人兴奋的方式与它们互动。泥盆纪时期以数百万年的动荡结束，以急剧的环境变化，多次灭绝事件以及大多数海洋生物的丧失为标志。这些延伸对海洋生命和脊椎动物进化产生了巨大影响。首先出现在被称为克利夫兰页岩成员的地质形成中发现的泥盆纪鱼中，其中首先出现在现代脊椎动物的许多特征，包括下颌，牙齿和骨盆鳍。这些当地的克利夫兰矿床中发现的许多物种在世界其他任何地方都找不到。化石是非常保存的，保留了诸如软尖端之类的特征，很少发现形态学信息。但是，黄铁矿目前正在威胁保存博物馆的泥盆纪化石系列。在潮湿的条件下，在克利夫兰页岩中自然发生的反应性黄铁矿，产生硫化铁，从而破坏形态学特征和整个标本。因此，博物馆的目标是将系列与新橱柜一起移至气候控制的空间，将脊椎动物古生物学数据发布到首次向全球聚合器发表，制作和发布3D标本的表面扫描以保留有关形态的信息，并保留这些记录，并将这些记录在教育公开范围内使用，以向公众传授地球的范围，并将其宣传范围越来越多。通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛影响的评论标准进行评估。