Multidisciplinary International Seminar on Paleoecology of the Cenozoic of South America; La Paz, Bolivia, May 1999

98121046 MacFadden该美洲计划奖将资助8名资深美国研究人员和4名初级美国研究人员参加1999年5月19日至22日在玻利维亚拉巴斯举行的关于南美洲新生代古生态的国际多学科研讨会的旅费和相关费用。组织者是佛罗里达大学的布鲁斯·J·麦克法登博士和现任拉巴斯国家自然历史博物馆(MNHN)的NSF国际研究员和富布赖特学者布鲁斯·J·肖基。外国组织者是博物馆古生物部主任费德里科·阿纳亚·达扎博士。参与者包括古哺乳动物学家、功能形态学家、古植物学家和地球化学家。在新生代(哺乳动物时代)的大部分时间里，南美洲是一个岛国大陆，拥有与地球其他地区隔绝进化的特有动物种群。然而，安第斯山脉的崛起和巴拿马大陆桥的形成从物理上和生物上从根本上改变了这块大陆。这种独特的生物地理史为进化论研究提供了难得的机会。原始南美洲动物群的奇怪性质和当时发生的复杂变化，挑战了我们对新热带生命进化的环境条件的理解。本次研讨会的目的是总结和评估有关新生代古生态和古气候学的知识；讨论我们目前的知识状况中的主要不足之处；并发展新的合作关系，将重点放在被认为对促进我们对这些复杂演化变化的理解具有重要意义的领域。玻利维亚是几个重要古生物遗址的所在地，在那里举办活动将让更多的研究人员有机会了解它们，以及博物馆的重要研究藏品。

98121046MacFaddenThis Americas Program award will support travel and related expenses for 8 senior and 4 junior US researchers to participate in an international multidisciplinary seminar on the paleoecology of the Cenozoic of South America, to take place in La Paz, Bolivia, May 19-22, 1999. Organizers are Drs. Bruce J. MacFadden, University of Florida, and Bruce J. Shockey, NSF International Research Fellow and Fulbright Scholar, presently assigned to the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), La Paz. The foreign organizer is Dr. Federico Anaya Daza, Chief, Department of Paleontology, of the Museum. Participants include paleomammalogists, functional morphologists, paleobotanists and geochemists.. Through most of the Cenozoic (Age of Mammals), South America was an island continent, having an endemic faunal population that evolved in isolation from the rest of the globe. However, the rise of the Andes and the formation of the Panamanian land bridge radically changed the continent, both physically and biotically. This unique biogeographical history offers rare opportunities for evolutionary studies. The strange nature of the original South American fauna and the complex changes that occurred at that time challenge our understanding of the environmental conditions in which Neotropical life evolved. The purpose of this seminar is to summarize and assess the knowledge regarding the paleoecology and paleoclimatology of the Cenozoic; discuss what the major deficits are in our current state of knowledge; and develop new collaborative relationships to focus on areas that are deemed important for the advancement of our understanding of those complex evolutionary changes. Bolivia is the site of several important paleontological localities, and holding the activity there will give more researchers an opportunity to become acquainted with them, as well as with the Museum's important research collections.