Postdoctoral Fellowship: EAR-PF: Is there a taphonomic clock? Assessing the progression of terrestrial bone alterations across environments and time

博士后奖学金：EAR-PF：有埋藏时钟吗？

• 批准号: 2305465
• 负责人: Rachel Laker
• 金额: $ 18万
• 依托单位: Laker, Rachel
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305465&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Postdoctoral; Fellowship; EAR; PF; there

Dr. Rachel Laker has been awarded an NSF Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out research and professional development activities at the University of Cincinnati under the mentorship of Dr. Joshua Miller and at South Dakota School of Mines under the mentorship of Dr. Sarah Keenan. In this fellowship, Dr. Laker will investigate the accumulation and morphology of taphonomic damage (cracks, microbial tunnels, and other damage that occurs after death but before burial) on bones as related to the time of decay and loss of the organic collagen. Taphonomic damage on bones is often used to estimate how much time is represented by different bone and fossil accumulations, which is critical information when comparing faunas from different ages or localities. The rates at which taphonomic damage accumulates are largely unknown. Actualistic experiments are generally evaluated over limited amounts of time (weeks to perhaps decades) and frequently yield rates of destruction that conflict with observations from bones found on natural landscapes, which can persist from years to millennia. To better understand how taphonomic damage forms, and quantify the rates at which it occurs, Dr. Laker will measure the taphonomic damage accumulated on caribou antlers that have been decaying across several millennia (evaluated using radiocarbon dating). To increase science engagement and cultural connectivity, on a regular basis Dr. Laker will virtually engage with the Gwich’in Native Alaskan community bordering the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Dr. Laker will continue to serve the geosciences community as an advocate for belonging, accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion values through undergraduate mentorship and professional service. This project aims to constrain our understanding of the physical manifestation and rates of taphonomic damage of bone on timescales ranging from years to millennia. Dr. Laker will (1) define the expression and variation of taphonomic alterations of a single environmental setting, including variability associated with collagen preservation and differences in bone construction, then (2) test the consistency of these findings, including the rates and morphologies of taphonomic alterations, across a latitudinal gradient. By integrating microscopic and macroscopic scales of analysis to improve our understanding of the formation of ubiquitous but poorly understood taphonomic features, this work will address shortcomings in taphonomic laboratory and field experiments to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the links between time and taphonomic degradation of bone. This research will generate a toolkit for assessing the time represented by faunal assemblages of different environments, enhancing paleoecological comparisons of paleontological records.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.

Rachel Laker博士已获得NSF地球科学博士后奖学金，在约书亚米勒博士的指导下在辛辛那提大学开展研究和专业发展活动，并在南达科他州矿业学院在Sarah Keenan博士的指导下开展研究和专业发展活动。在这项研究中，Laker博士将研究埋藏损伤（裂缝，微生物隧道和其他死亡后但埋葬前发生的损伤）在骨骼上的积累和形态，这些损伤与有机胶原蛋白的腐烂和损失时间有关。对骨骼的埋藏损伤通常用于估计不同的骨骼和化石积累代表了多少时间，这是比较不同年龄或地点的动物群时的关键信息。埋藏损伤累积的速率在很大程度上是未知的。现实主义实验通常在有限的时间内（几周到几十年）进行评估，并且经常产生与自然景观中发现的骨骼观察相冲突的破坏率，这些骨骼可以持续数年到数千年。为了更好地了解埋藏损伤是如何形成的，并量化其发生的速率，莱克博士将测量数千年来一直在腐烂的驯鹿鹿角上积累的埋藏损伤（使用放射性碳测年法进行评估）。为了增加科学参与和文化联系，Laker博士将定期与北极国家野生动物保护区附近的Gwich'in阿拉斯加原住民社区进行虚拟互动。湖人将继续服务于地球科学界作为归属，可访问性，正义，公平，多样性和包容性的价值观，通过本科生导师和专业服务的倡导者。这个项目的目的是限制我们的理解的物理表现和速度的埋藏损伤的骨的时间尺度从几年到几千年。Laker博士将（1）定义单一环境中埋藏学改变的表达和变化，包括与胶原蛋白保存和骨结构差异相关的变异性，然后（2）测试这些发现的一致性，包括埋藏学改变的速率和形态，跨越纬度梯度。通过整合微观和宏观尺度的分析，以提高我们对普遍存在但知之甚少的埋藏特征的形成的理解，这项工作将解决埋藏实验室和现场实验中的缺点，以有助于更全面地了解时间和骨的埋藏降解之间的联系。这项研究将产生一个工具包，用于评估不同环境的动物群组合所代表的时间，加强古生物记录的古生态学比较。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。