International Research Fellow Awards Program: The Biotic Consequences of Andean Uplift

[9600394]麦登国际研究员奖励计划使美国科学家和工程师能够在国外进行三到二十四个月的研究。该计划的奖励为联合研究提供了机会，并利用独特或互补的设施、专业知识和国外的实验条件。该奖项将支持杜克大学的Robert H. Madden博士进行为期9个月的博士后研究访问，该访问将支持杜克大学的Robert H. Madden博士与巴西国立拉普拉塔大学的Guiomar Vucetich教授一起工作。这个项目的题目是“安第斯山脉隆起的生物后果：基于现存啮齿动物和其他哺乳动物的哺乳动物化石记录的推论”。本研究的目的是通过哺乳动物组合的组成和结构来估计降雨量和海拔，探讨安第斯造山运动对中新世-上新世动物记录的影响。根据化石记录中可识别的属性，根据南美洲沿海拔和降雨梯度分布的活哺乳动物的组织模式，对降雨和古海拔进行推断。在目前可用的估算降雨量和古温度值的方法中，动物区系方法可能是最不发达的，但可能是对基于稳定同位素和化石区系的方法的最好补充。已经采取了动物系方法来区分主要的生物群落（例如，草原与森林）或记录与现代条件的背离。这些方法为重建晚新近纪南美洲安第斯隆起的环境史提供了可能。利用哺乳动物化石记录确定年平均降雨量和古海拔估计的能力取决于该记录的质量，特别是足够的采样和对物种水平的现代分类修订。可用于研究的最佳化石记录是玻利维亚高原和阿根廷北部的化石。* * *

9600394 Madden The International Research Fellow Awards Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty- four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad. This award will support a nine-month postdoctoral research visit which will support Dr. Robert H. Madden of Duke University to work with Professor Guiomar Vucetich at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata in Brazil. There project is entitled, "The Biotic Consequences of Andean Uplift: Inferences About the Mammalian Fossil Record Based on Living Rodents and Other Mammals." The purpose of this research is to explore the influence of Andean orogeny on the Mio-Pliocene faunal record based on estimates of rainfall and elevation from the composition and structure of mammalian assemblages. Inferences about rainfall and paleoelevation will be based on patterns in the organization of living mammals distributed along elevation and rainfall gradients in South America framed in terms of attributes that can be recognized in the fossil record. Of the methods currently available for estimating rainfall and paleotemperature, faunal methods are probably the least well-developed, and yet may provide the best complement to methods based on stable isotopes and fossil flora. Faunal methods have been undertaken to distinguish between major biomes (e.g., grassland vs forest) or to document departures from modern conditions. These methods open the possibility of reconstructing the environmental history of Andean uplift in South America through the late Neogene. The ability to determine estimates of mean annual rainfall and paleoelevation using the mammalian fossil record depends on the quality of that record, especially adequate sampling and modern taxonomic revision to the species level. The best available fossil records for the studies are those o f altiplano Bolivia and northern Argentina. ***