MAMMOTH ARCTIC PATHS (MAP): Interdisciplinary Research into the Movement Ecology and Biogeography of an Iconic Arctic Animal through Environmental Change.

关于北极生态系统过去如何应对变化的信息，比如过去的变暖时期，非常有价值，因为它可以揭示数千年来完成的一系列自然实验的结果。当北极在上一个冰河时代后变暖时，北极的许多大型动物，如猛犸象，都灭绝了。然而，关于猛犸象是如何在北极生活和活动的，人们知之甚少。研究人员想知道猛犸象是如何活动的，它们的活动是否会随着环境的变化而变化。他们是否有他们经常去的某些地区，或者他们在北极走过的某些道路？幸运的是，我们可以从猛犸象的牙齿和象牙中学到很多东西。这些动物部分可以保存化学物质(称为同位素)的记录，这些化学物质可以告诉我们猛犸象的生活。在这个项目中，研究人员将研究阿拉斯加猛犸象的象牙和牙齿的化学成分。通过观察猛犸象一生中化学成分的变化，研究人员可以确定猛犸象在上一个冰河时代的顶峰时期以及在阿拉斯加大陆灭绝之前的活动地点。调查人员正在与北方阿拉斯加大学博物馆(UAMN)的合作者合作。作为该项目的一部分，对猛犸象的放射性碳测年也将用于一个名为“领养猛犸象”的教育项目，该项目是与UAMN的合作项目，面向幼儿园到十二年级的学生。调查人员将与一位擅长绘制古代动物的艺术家合作，根据发现创造出视觉表现。这些将在UAMN上展示，与公众分享该项目的发现。北极实际的气候变暖和环境变化正在导致包括北极熊、驯鹿和海狸在内的动物的生物地理和运动模式发生重大变化。在某些情况下，这些变化被证明是非常有压力的，将一些动物推向它们的生态生理极限和灭绝的可能性。猛犸象(猛犸象)是北极地区一种标志性的灭绝物种，据说是重要的生态工程师。上一个冰河时代结束后的某个时候，当气候变暖，环境条件发生变化时，它们和其他几种大型动物一起在被称为贝林贾的北极大陆上灭绝了。对于这些相对较新的北极生物群灭绝的原因，人们提出了许多假说，这些假说也一直备受争议。尽管受到了这项研究的关注，但目前尚不清楚猛犸象能够在多大程度上通过迁移到更适宜的栖息地和/或长期存在于某些栖息地来缓解环境条件的波动。该项目的首要目标是确定随着气候变暖，来自北极阿拉斯加的猛犸象是否在一系列频繁使用的地区之间持续移动，并采取与上次冰川盛期(LGM)后类似的移动模式和路线。研究人员将分析一系列元素的同位素比率，包括锶和氧，这些元素保存在放射性碳年代确定的猛犸象牙齿和象牙中。同位素特征的变化将与阿拉斯加的同位素地图进行比较，以创建猛犸象在LGM期间和之后的终身运动的空间模型。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Information about how Arctic ecosystems in the past responded to changes, like past periods of warming, is exceedingly valuable because it can reveal the results from a series of natural experiments completed over thousands of years. When the Arctic warmed after the last ice age, many large animals in the Arctic, like the woolly mammoths, went extinct. However, little is known about how mammoths lived and moved in the Arctic. Researchers want to know how mammoths moved around and if their movement changed depending on the environment. Did they have certain areas they always went to, or certain paths they followed in the Arctic? Luckily, much can be learned from the teeth and tusks of mammoths. These animal parts can hold records of chemicals (called isotopes) that can tell us about a mammoth’s life. In this project, the investigators will study the chemistry of the tusks and teeth from mammoths in Alaska. By looking at changes in the chemical makeup over their lifetime, researchers can determine where mammoths moved during the peak of the last ice age and right before they went extinct in mainland Alaska. The investigators are working with collaborators at the University of Alaska Museum of the North (UAMN). The radiocarbon dating of the mammoths as part of this project will also be used in an education program called the “Adopt a Mammoth,” project, which is a partnership with UAMN and is aimed at students in kindergarten to twelfth grade. The investigators will work with an artist who specializes in drawing ancient animals to create visual representations based on the findings. These will be displayed in the UAMN to share the project’s discoveries with the public.Substantial climate warming and environmental changes in the Arctic are resulting in significant alterations in the biogeography and movement patterns of animals, including polar bears, caribou, and beaver. In some cases, these changes are proving to be exceedingly stressful, pushing some animals to their eco-physiological limits and the possibility of extinction. Woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius), an iconic and extinct Arctic species, reputedly served as important ecosystem engineers. Sometime after the end of the last ice age, when climate warmed and environmental conditions changed, they went extinct from the Arctic landmass known as Beringia, along with several other large animals. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed for the cause of these relatively recent extinctions from the Arctic biome, and these have been heavily debated. Despite this research attention, it is not yet clear to what degree mammoths were able to mitigate fluctuating environmental conditions through movement to more preferable habitats and/or persist in certain habitats over the long-term. The overarching project goal is to determine whether woolly mammoths from Arctic Alaska consistently moved between a series of frequently used areas and adopted similar movement patterns and routes during the last glacial maximum (LGM) compared to after the LGM as the climate warmed. The investigators will analyze a suite of isotope ratios of elements, including strontium and oxygen, preserved in radiocarbon dated mammoth teeth and tusks. Variations in the isotope signatures will be compared with isotopic maps of Alaska to create spatial models of the lifetime movements of mammoths during and after the LGM.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.