Collaborative Research: RUI: Exploring early metazoan reef evolution through a multi-scale approach

合作研究：RUI：通过多尺度方法探索早期后生动物礁演化

• 批准号: 2233727
• 负责人: Phoebe Cohen
• 金额: $ 10.57万
• 依托单位: Williams College
• 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: 2023-10-01 至 2025-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2233727&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; RUI; Exploring; early

Shallow water reefs have been called "cradles of evolution." By studying the remains of ancient reefs, scientists can gain critical insights into the ecological and evolutionary impact of Earth's earliest animals and our planet's transition from a world dominated by microbes to the one we know today. Here, the researchers propose a multidisciplinary and multiscale survey of the Little Dal reefs in northwestern Canada, which formed nearly one billion years ago and are home to the earliest purported remains of sponges on our planet. In this study, they will utilize various methods—from drone-derived models of outcrops to 3D reconstructions of the sponge fossils to isotopic analyses—to improve our understanding of the inhabitants (e.g., were there truly sponges on Earth a billion years ago?) and ecology (e.g., who or what built the reefs?) of the Little Dal reefs. This work will involve training undergraduate and graduate students and a postdoctoral fellow within a framework that encourages a collaborative, interdisciplinary, inclusive, and international scientific approach. Additionally, they propose to mentor a student from the First Nations Sahtu ́/Dene communities of Fort Simpson, Norman Wells, and Fort Good Hope and engage with these communities throughout the project. Recently, scientists have posited that vermiform microstructures (VERM), found in the Tonian Little Dal Group of northwestern Canada, represent the remains of the oldest poriferan-grade organism in the rock record. Any claim of metazoan reef inhabitation (or construction) during the Proterozoic requires careful consideration and evaluation using a multidisciplinary approach. Here, the researchers propose to explore the ecology and morphology of the Little Dal reef system via a multiscale field and analytical study. They aim to 1) determine whether VERM are unambiguously the remains of a sponge-grade organism and therefore representative of the earliest metazoan reef inhabitants, and 2) quantify the micro- to macro-scale morphologies of the Little Dal reef system, including characteristics such as surface roughness, ecological zonation, and the abundance of constituent reef components. Any assignment of biological affinity for putative Neoproterozoic sponge remains will have broad implications for our understanding of the tempo and mode of metazoan evolution. Additionally, their findings will enable quantitative comparisons between fossil reefs throughout the geological record. Such comparisons will help chart the timing and structural nature of the transition from purely microbial reefs of the earlier Proterozoic to metazoan framework reefs of the Phanerozoic.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.

浅水珊瑚礁被称为“进化的摇篮。“通过研究古代珊瑚礁的遗迹，科学家可以深入了解地球最早期动物的生态和进化影响，以及我们的星球从微生物主导的世界向我们今天所知的世界的转变。在这里，研究人员建议对加拿大西北部的小达尔珊瑚礁进行多学科和多尺度的调查，该珊瑚礁形成于近10亿年前，是我们星球上最早的海绵遗迹的所在地。在这项研究中，他们将利用各种方法-从无人机衍生的露头模型到海绵化石的3D重建再到同位素分析-来提高我们对居民的了解（例如，十亿年前地球上真的有海绵吗？）和生态学（例如，是谁或什么建造了珊瑚礁？）小达尔珊瑚礁的一部分这项工作将涉及在一个鼓励协作、跨学科、包容和国际科学方法的框架内培训本科生、研究生和博士后研究员。此外，他们建议指导来自辛普森堡，诺曼·威尔斯和好望堡的第一民族Sahtu '/Dene社区的学生，并在整个项目中与这些社区接触。最近，科学家们假设，在加拿大西北部的Tonian Little Dal群中发现的蠕虫状微结构（VERM）代表了岩石记录中最古老的多孔生物的遗骸。任何声称后生动物礁居住（或建设）在元古代需要仔细考虑和评估使用多学科的方法。在这里，研究人员建议通过多尺度实地和分析研究来探索小达尔礁系统的生态和形态。他们的目的是1）确定是否VERM是明确的海绵级生物的遗体，因此代表最早的后生动物礁居民，和2）量化的微观到宏观尺度的形态小达尔礁系统，包括表面粗糙度，生态分区，和丰富的组成礁成分的特点。任何分配的生物亲和力推定新元古代海绵仍然将有广泛的影响，我们的理解的克里思和后生动物的进化模式。此外，他们的发现将使整个地质记录中的化石珊瑚礁之间的定量比较成为可能。这样的比较将有助于图表的时间和结构性质的过渡，从纯粹的微生物礁的早期元古界的后生动物的框架reefs的meserozoe.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得的支持，通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。