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项大规模的改造项目，其中包括建造新的永久性展品和储存设施。博物馆的古生物收藏品收藏了地球历史上一个独特时期的化石，当时现在的俄亥俄州克利夫兰是一个热带海洋，支持着一个陌生的生态系统。在泥盆纪末期（约3.58亿年前），当环境发生巨大变化时，这里发现的许多独特的植物和动物都灭绝了。克利夫兰的化石记录提供了一个对过去剧烈环境变化的影响的非凡一瞥，这些信息对未来具有深远的影响。该博物馆拥有世界上最大的格陵兰地区泥盆纪化石收藏;然而，由于储存条件不足，它们目前处于危险之中。博物馆的科学家们认识到，现在是时候拯救这一宝贵的地球历史记录了。他们的目标是为这些藏品建立一个稳定的环境，在其进一步退化之前记录其包含的所有证据，并扩大访问权限，使更多的科学家能够使用这一非凡的资源。此外，通过对化石进行拍照和3D扫描，全球观众将能够以全新而激动人心的方式与化石互动。泥盆纪在数百万年的动荡中结束，其标志是剧烈的环境变化，多次灭绝事件，以及大多数海洋生物的消失。这些变化对海洋生物和脊椎动物的进化产生了巨大的影响。现代脊椎动物的许多特征，包括颌骨、牙齿和腹鳍，最早出现在被称为克利夫兰页岩段的地质构造中的泥盆纪鱼类身上。在克利夫兰当地的这些矿床中发现的许多物种在世界其他任何地方都找不到。这些化石保存得非常好，保留了软组织等特征，很少发现形态学信息。然而，黄铁矿病目前正威胁着博物馆泥盆纪化石收藏的保存。克利夫兰页岩中天然存在的活性黄铁矿在潮湿条件下会氧化，产生硫化铁，从而破坏形态特征和整个标本。因此，博物馆的目标是将藏品转移到一个有新橱柜的气候控制空间，首次向全球聚合器发布脊椎动物古生物数据集，制作并发布标本的3D表面扫描以保留有关形态的信息，并将这些记录用于教育推广，以教育公众地球已经发生了多大的变化，并将继续发生变化。基金会的使命是履行其使命，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价，被认为值得支持。