SBER Instrumentation: Vehicle to be used in Anthropological Field Research on the Giant Extinct Lemurs and Associated Fauna of Madagascar

Simons0083774这里提出的研究项目的目标是从石灰岩喀斯特地区的洞穴和不同地点的沼泽沉积物中收集马达加斯加灵长类和其他脊椎动物亚化石的新集合。工作的重点是托利亚拉(图莱尔)附近Mahafay喀斯特的一系列洞穴。我们将探索西部Bemaraha Massif和北部Narinda半岛的新地点。我们还将返回马达加斯加北部多产的安卡拉纳山，以及Ampasambazimba沼泽地和最近重新发现的Masinandraina。这项研究计划已经持续了几年，最近得到了美国国家科学基金会BNS 89-11315、BNS 92-07084和96-30350的资助。早些时候，我们发现了已知的最完整的骨骼，几乎所有已灭绝的巨型狐猴都是如此，许多新的调查路线都是基于这些相关的发现而展开的。这项合作涉及来自五所或更多大学的科学家。我们为了进行发现而需要到达的地区的道路很糟糕，甚至几乎不存在。车辆上有可怕的磨损，我们之前的几辆车已经停止运转。因此，这一提议。近年来，人们对试图了解在马达加斯加殖民的人类与他们遇到的特有物种之间的相互作用以及记录环境变化在灭绝过程中的作用的兴趣激增。我们已经了解了大量关于灭绝和现存狐猴的古代分布，我们记录了迄今为止未被识别的走廊和岛上不同地区的动物交流。我们现在开始了解现代群落和最近过去的古群落之间的相似和不同之处，我们希望进一步、更详细地记录这一持续灭绝事件的性质或“规则”(如果有)和时间框架。为此，我们计划为亚化石收集新的日期，寻找人类和巨型狐猴同时代的更好证据，专注于亚化石的系统学和生态地理变异，并在必要时测试和修改我们最近通过生态地貌学重建的“生态空间”。对于马达加斯加灵长类物种灭绝的可能原因，我们仍然持控制态度：无论是疾病、环境变化、人类的双手，还是它们的协同作用。需要更多的全岛放射性碳测年，以确定灭绝浪潮的时间长度，并更好地记录环境变化的时间。非常真实的可能性是，马达加斯加的不同地区经历了不同的侮辱组合，灭绝过程是零碎的，在地区上是不同的。对相关动物，特别是鸟类和小型哺乳动物的分析，将为特定地区的环境变化提供新的证据，并使我们能够评估该地区特有的性质和时间深度。该项目迄今的发现基本上彻底改变了我们对所有已知类型的已灭绝巨型狐猴的理解，并为马达加斯加仍在增长的灵长类动物群增加了一些新物种。我们希望在Bemaraha和Tulear地区计划的新勘探将扩大我们对最稀有物种如Hadropithecus和巨型Ayaye的了解，或者可能导致新形式的发现。我们希望我们的团队在之前的赠款下工作的有效性已经从下面列出的许多发现和最近的出版物中得到了证明。目前的提案要求为al00GX丰田1999款陆地巡洋舰旅行车提供80%的资金。

Simons0083774The objective of the research project proposed here is to gather new collections of primate and other vertebrate subfossils in Madagascar from caves in limestone karst regions and from swamp deposits at a variety of sites. Efforts are focused on a series of caves in the Mahafaly Karsts near Toliara (Tulear). We will explore new sites in the western Bemaraha Massif and the northern Narinda Peninsula. We will also return to the productive Ankarana Massif of northern Madagascar and to the marsh sites of Ampasambazimba and the recently rediscovered Masinandraina. This research program has continued for several years, more recently funded by NSF BNS 89-11315, BNS 92-07084 and 96-30350. Earlier we found the most complete skeletons known for almost all giant extinct lemurs, and many new lines of investigation have opened up based on these associated finds. The cooperation involves scientists from five or more Universities. Roads in the regions we need to reach in order to make discoveries are awful or nearly nonexistent. There is terrific wear and tear on the vehicles and several we previously had have ceased to function. Hence, this proposal.Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in the attempt to understand the interaction in Madagascar between colonizing humans and the endemic species they met, as well as in documenting the role of environmental change in the extinction process. We have learned a great deal about paleodistributions of both extinct and living lemurs, and we have documented hithertofore unrecognized corridors and exchanges of fauna from different regions of the island. We are now beginning to understand the similarities and differences between modern and paleo- communities of the recent past, and we hope to document further, and in greater detail, the nature or "rules" (if any) and temporal framework of this continuing extinction event. To do so, we plan to gather new dates for subfossils, to search for better evidence of the contemporaneity of humans and giant lemurs, to focus on the systematics and ecogeographic variation of the subfossUs, and to test and modify if necessary our recent reconstructions of "ecospace" via ecomorphology.Controversy persists as to the probable agency for primate extinction in Madagascar: whether by disease, environmental change, human hands, or by their synergistic interaction. Additional island-wide radiocarbon dates are needed to establish the temporal length of the wave of extinction and better document the timing of environmental change. The very real possibility exists that different regions of Madagascar experienced a different combination of insults, and the extinction process was piecemeal and regionally distinct. Analysis of the associated fauna, particularly birds and small mammals, will provide new evidence about environmental change in particulhr regions and allow us to assess the nature and time depth of regional endemicity.Discoveries made to date from this project have revolutionized our understanding of essentially all known types of giant extinct lemurs and have added a few new species to the still growing roster of Malagasy primate taxa. We hope that new exploration planned here in the Bemaraha and Tulear regions will expand our knowledge of the rarest species such as Hadropithecus and the giant aye-aye or may lead to the discovery of new forms. We hope that the efficacy of our team working under previous grants has been demonstrated by the many finds and recent publications listed below.The present proposal requests 80% funding for al00GX Toyota 1999 model Landcruiser Station Wagon.