Collaborative Research: Conference: Stratigraphic Paleobiology Field Conference

地层古生物学野外会议旨在培养早期的博士生，使他们了解地层记录的形成如何控制最有可能发现化石的地方。这些知识对于化石记录的任何生物学解释都是必要的，比如进化模式、生态变化、大灭绝和生物入侵。这些知识也是跨学科的，通常不包括在大多数博士课程中。它将允许学生解决与生命如何在环境变化中进化相关的重要问题，以及关于细分地质时间和地质相关性的问题，这些问题在能源行业广泛用于调查地球上含油气盆地的起源和发展。参加者将学习如何收集、分析和解释地层和古生物学数据，通过实地项目的岩石，代表古代生态系统在陆地和海洋。他们将测量和描述沉积岩的地层柱。参与者还将进行化石计数，并学习如何使用几种统计方法分析化石计数数据与地层柱的关系。他们将发现化石的分布和保存是如何受到地层记录结构的控制的。作为一个小组，他们将讨论如何利用这种理解来解决古生态学和进化方面的研究问题。现场会议的参与者将继续在大学、博物馆和私营部门担任研究和教学职位，使他们成为培养未来STEM领导者解决社会面临的许多最紧迫问题的关键角色。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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估，被认为值得支持。

The Stratigraphic Paleobiology Field Conference is designed to train early Ph.D. students to understand how the formation of the stratigraphic record controls where fossils are most likely found. This knowledge is necessary for any biological interpretation of the fossil record, such as patterns of evolution, ecological change, mass extinctions, and biotic invasions. This knowledge is also interdisciplinary and not usually covered in most Ph.D. programs. It will allow students to address significant questions related to how life evolves in relation to environmental change, as well as questions about subdividing geologic time and geological correlation, approaches that are used extensively in the energy industry to investigate the origin and development of hydrocarbon-bearing basins on Earth.Participants will learn how to collect, analyze, and interpret stratigraphic and paleontologic data through field projects on rocks that represent ancient ecosystems on land and in the sea. They will measure and describe stratigraphic columns of sedimentary rocks. Participants will also conduct counts of fossils and learn how to analyze fossil count data in relationship to the stratigraphic columns using several statistical methods. They will discover how the distribution and preservation of fossils are controlled by the structure of the stratigraphic record. As a group, they will discuss how this understanding can be used to address research questions in paleoecology and evolution. Participants in the field conference will go on to hold research and teaching positions at universities, museums, and in the private sector, making them key actors in training future STEM leaders to address many of the most pressing problems facing society.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.