Paleoecology of Angiosperm Climbers: Indicators of Climate, Forest Structural Diversity, and Disturbance

小行星9316316 PI将调查现代和化石被子植物攀缘植物（藤本植物）。 目的是确定攀缘被子植物科的诊断性叶特征，将基本气候、生境和森林结构特征与攀缘植物多样性、丰富度和形态学相关联，并利用这些系统学和生态学特征来描述北美西部第三纪早期两个不同地点的森林生境（Paleocene Raton Formation，NM; Eocene Puget Group，WA）。 对现代遗址的研究包括在中美洲和南美洲的实地考察。 研究结果将对植物群落进化的研究具有重要意义，并对森林砍伐和全球气候变化对植被的影响产生影响。

9316316 Burnham PI will investigate modern and fossil angiosperm climbers (lianas). Objectives are to determine the diagnostic foliage characteristics of climbing angiosperm families, to correlate basic climatic, habitat, and forest structure characteristics with climber diversity, abundance, and morphology, and to use these features of systematics and ecology to characterize the forested habitats of two distinct sites in the early Tertiary of western North America (Paleocene Raton Formation, NM; Eocene Puget Group, WA). Studies of modern sites include field work in Central and South America. Results will be important to studies of plant community evolution, with implications for the impact of deforestation and global climate change on vegetation.