Plant-arthropod associations from the Lower Miocene of the Most Basin in northern Bohemia (Czech Republic)

陆生植物和昆虫占当今地球生物多样性的大部分，几乎一半的昆虫物种是食草动物。因此，昆虫和植物共享古老的协会，可以追溯到现在超过3亿年。然而，对它们之间相互作用的研究在很大程度上仍处于起步阶段。有2400多株植物遗骸可供检查。这些被归类为所谓的“功能性摄食群体”的损害的多样性提供了陆地生态系统的复杂性、结构和变化的突出例子。该项目的主要目标是记录渐新世/中新世界线内昆虫食草性的变化，目的是了解引起观察的主要因素。生态学和古生物学研究表明，温度、降水量、叶片养分含量和植物多样性都能影响昆虫植食性。然而，植物-昆虫的相互作用，陆地生态系统的一个主要特征，在这段时间内并不为人所知。在欧洲，新近纪由于非洲板块与欧亚板块的碰撞而表现出古地理重组的特征。除了全球气候变化外，构造发展和海平面变化也对欧亚大陆的气候产生了重要影响。新近纪欧洲古植物区系记录非常丰富多样，支持了对植物区系和植被发展的大规模深入了解。该项目将把对晚中新世植物-动物化石相互作用和当代昆虫动物群的定量研究联合收割机结合起来。将汇编一个所有化石痕迹的数据库，并根据古草食动物的多样性和强度进行分析。

Terrestrial plants and insects account for the majority of the Earth's biodiversity today, and almost half of insect species are herbivores. Thus, insects and plants share ancient associations that date back now for more than 300 million years. However, investigation of their interactions still stands largely at their beginning. More than 2400 plants remains are available for the examinations. The variety of these damages which are classified as socalled "guilds" or functional feeding-groups supplies an outstanding example of the complexity, the structure and the change of terrestrial ecosystems. The primary objective of the project is to document changes in insect herbivory through the Oligocene / Miocene boundary, with the aim of understanding the principal factors that caused the observations. Ecological and palaeontological studies indicate that temperature, precipitation, leaf nutrient content and floral diversity can influence insect herbivory. However, plant-insect interactions, a dominant feature of terrestrial ecosystems, are not well known during this interval. In Europe, the Neogene is characterized by palaeogeographic reorganization due to the collision of the African with the Eurasian plate. In addition to the global climatic changes, the tectonic development and sea level changes severely influenced the climate in Eurasia. The Neogene European palaeofloral record is very rich and diverse which support a profound large-scale understanding of the floristic and vegetational development. The project will combine quantitative studies of late Miocene fossil plant-animal interactions and contemporary insect faunas. A database of all fossil traces will be compiled and analysed in terms of the diversity and intensity of palaeo-herbivory.