MCA PILOT PUI: ECOLOGICAL OPPORTUNITY IN PHANEROZOIC MARINE ANIMALS: THE FIRST STATISTICAL COMPARISON

MCA PILOT PUI：显生宙海洋动物的生态机会：首次统计比较

• 批准号: 2322080
• 负责人: Philip Novack-Gottshall
• 金额: $ 24.43万
• 依托单位: Benedictine University
• 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: 2023-08-15 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2322080&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MCA; PILOT; PUI; ECOLOGICAL; OPPORTUNITY

The ecological breadth of the animal kingdom is remarkable, with some groups displaying a wide range of strategies whereas others pursue few. The causes of this variation are of great interest to those studying the nature of innovation. However, the lack of an objective way to measure this variation has hindered progress. This project leverages a new quantitative database of life habits that encompasses all known marine animal genera. A partnership between two mid-career faculty at predominantly undergraduate institutions, the project tests four hypotheses that will result in the first-ever statistical description of how ecological diversity across all major animal groups has changed through time. In addition to providing novel statistical and visualization methods for studying biological history, the results will promote the progress of science by advancing knowledge of the limits and opportunities for innovation. Societal and educational impacts include supporting diverse undergraduate students of underrepresented minorities in research experiences, production of free museum learning modules, and public presentations.Statistical documentation of how different animal clades (phyla and classes) have varied ecologically—among clades, through geological time, and in relation to convergence on similar adaptive strategies—can transform investigations into how evolutionary and ecological opportunities have impacted the history of life on Earth. This project integrates novel and existing big-data platforms and recent analytical advances to build the largest-ever, open-source database of fossil marine ecology, body sizes, and stratigraphic ranges. Collaboration between the PI and a statistician at Swarthmore College will provide new statistical and visualization methods to allow next-generation analyses of ecospaces and morphospaces. Public presentations and creation of educational modules for the Jurica-Suchy Nature Museum will increase public awareness of how fossils can help answer pressing ecological and evolutionary questions. Support for summer REU and semester-long research experiences will expand participation and mentoring of underrepresented minorities in STEM science.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.

动物王国的生态广度是惊人的，一些群体展示了广泛的策略，而另一些则很少。这种变化的原因是研究创新本质的人非常感兴趣的。然而，由于缺乏衡量这种差异的客观方法，进展受到了阻碍。该项目利用了一个新的生活习惯定量数据库，其中包括所有已知的海洋动物属。该项目是两个主要本科院校的职业中期教师之间的合作伙伴关系，该项目测试了四个假设，这些假设将导致有史以来第一次统计描述所有主要动物群体的生态多样性如何随着时间的推移而变化。除了为研究生物学历史提供新的统计和可视化方法外，研究结果还将通过推进对创新限制和机会的认识来促进科学进步。社会和教育影响包括支持代表性不足的少数民族的不同本科生的研究经验，制作免费的博物馆学习模块，并公开演示。（门和纲）在生态学上各不相同--在分支之间，在地质时期，关于类似的适应性战略的趋同-可以将研究转化为进化和生态机会如何影响地球上生命的历史。该项目整合了新的和现有的大数据平台以及最新的分析进展，以建立有史以来最大的化石海洋生态，身体大小和地层范围的开源数据库。PI和斯沃斯莫尔学院的统计学家之间的合作将提供新的统计和可视化方法，以允许下一代生态空间和形态空间的分析。Jurica-Suchy自然博物馆的公开展示和教育模块的创建将提高公众对化石如何帮助回答紧迫的生态和进化问题的认识。对夏季REU和学期研究经验的支持将扩大在STEM科学中代表性不足的少数民族的参与和指导。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。