Collaborative Research: Assembling the foundation of modern mammal community structure in the first 7 million years after the K/Pg mass extinction

在今天的生态系统中，哺乳动物在生态上占主导地位。它们在6600万年前导致恐龙灭绝的大灭绝(K/PG)之后崛起，是进化辐射的经典例子。对这类事件的研究不仅影响了进化论，也影响了我们对生物多样性的丧失和起源以及当今生态系统的脆弱性、崩溃、组装和维护的理解。对这一事件的生态和进化动力学缺乏详细的了解。一个由地质学家和古生物学家组成的不同团队将在蒙大拿州东部建立一个研究体系，跨越K/PG大灭绝后的前700万年，以解决两个核心问题：1)哺乳动物是如何在遥远的时间里在当地生态系统中占据重要地位的？2)气候和植被等因素是如何塑造这一轨迹的？该团队将在蒙大拿州东部高度分辨率的时间框架内生成并整合哺乳动物化石和气候指标的关键记录。这将提供横跨K/PG和大部分古新世(前700万年)的大陆生态系统的详细地球系统视图，将阐明哺乳动物进化、生态和气候之间的长期联系。分析还将阐明对这些系统的扰动如何导致大规模的生态系统变化和适度的生物恢复和辐射。这项工作将对地质年代学、古气候学、古生物学、生态学和进化论产生影响。该小组将通过以下方式吸引更广泛和更多样化的受众：(1)通过实地考察和课堂活动，将K-12教师及其教室与真实的地球科学研究联系起来的多年外联倡议--地球科学发现(DIG)野外学校；(2)扩大代表不足群体的研究参与，方法是支持一名代表不足的女科学家和一名研究生以及来自代表不足群体的一名PI，此外还为来自代表不足群体的8名教师提供全额奖学金参加DIGH；以及(3)通过教育和培训4名研究生和至少6名本科生培养STEM人才，他们将通过实地和实验室工作被介绍给地球科学。该奖项反映了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。

Mammals are ecologically dominant in ecosystems today. Their rise to prominence after the mass extinction (K/Pg) that killed off the dinosaurs 66 million years ago is a classic example of evolutionary radiation. Study of such events not only impacts evolutionary theory but also our understanding of loss and origination of biodiversity and the fragility, collapse, assembly, and maintenance of today’s ecosystems. Detailed understanding of the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of this event are lacking. A diverse team of geologists and paleontologists will build a study system in eastern Montana that spans the first 7 million years after the K/Pg mass extinction to address two central questions: 1) How did mammals rise to ecological prominence in local ecosystems in deep time?, and 2) How did factors, like climate and vegetation, shape this trajectory? The team will generate and integrate critical records of fossil mammals and climate proxies in a highly resolved temporal framework across eastern Montana. This will provide a detailed Earth system view of the continental ecosystem across the K/Pg and through most of the Paleocene (the first ~7 million years) that will elucidate long-term connections between mammalian evolution, ecology, and climate. Analyses will also clarify how perturbations to these systems lead to large-scale ecosystem change and moderate biotic recovery and radiation. This work will have implications for geochronology, paleoclimatology, paleontology, ecology, and evolution. The team will engage a wider and more diverse audience through (1) the multi-year outreach initiative the Discoveries in Geosciences (DIG) Field School, which connects K-12 teachers and their classrooms with real Earth science research via fieldwork and classroom activities; (2) broadening the participation of underrepresented groups in research by supporting a PI and a graduate student who are early-career female scientists and a PI from an underrepresented group, in addition to providing full scholarships for 8 teachers from underrepresented groups to attend DIG; and (3) building STEM talent through the education and training of 4 graduate students and at least 6 undergraduate students who will be introduced to the Earth sciences through field and lab work.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.