BIOCOMPLEXITY: Consequences of Greenhouse Warming for Biocomplexity and Biogeochemical Cycles: A Multidisciplinary Case Study Across the Paleocene-Eocene Boundary

温室气体变暖对生物复杂性和生物地球化学循环的影响：跨越古新世-始新世边界的多学科案例研究大约在55 Ma左右，地球经历了一次快速而极端的全球变暖事件，这是碳异常大量释放到海洋-大气系统的产物。这一被称为古新世始新世最热事件(PETM)对全球海洋和陆地生态系统产生了深远而重大的影响，从深海有孔虫的大规模灭绝到植物和有蹄类的扩散和随后的辐射。这些气候和生物扰动的组合引发了地球生物地球化学循环的戏剧性变化，最终恢复了全球碳循环的平衡。然而，恢复过程花了近20万年的时间。我们提出了一个多机构的跨学科计划，以研究古新世始新世最高温度(PETM)对全球生物圈的影响以及碳和营养物质的耦合生物地球化学循环。该项目将汇集一个国际专家团队，其中包括来自美国的11名高级调查人员，以及来自欧洲、新西兰和中国的5名专家。在现有工作的基础上，这项研究将利用一系列模型来确定无机和有机化学过程的耦合，评估这些过程在短期和长期尺度上对封存过剩碳的相对贡献。将生成代表海洋和陆地系统的经验数据，并将其用于约束和评估模型结果。我们将评估和测试现有的关于PETM扰动对生物圈和耦合生物地球化学循环的一阶效应和反馈的性质的假设。55 Ma事件与现在在强迫和反应方面有许多相似之处。生物群落的结构以及大陆和海洋的形态也有许多不同。然而，从根本上讲，生物地球化学系统和生物圈的反应会和今天一样。因此，PETM提供了一个独特的，也可能是唯一的机会，来研究温室气体突然导致的全球环境变暖的短期和长期影响。

ABSTRACTConsequences of Greenhouse Warming for Biocomplexity and Biogeochemical Cycles: a Multidisciplinary Case Study Across the Paleocene-Eocene BoundaryApproximately 55 Ma, the Earth experienced a rapid and extreme episode of global warming that was the product of an unusually massive release of carbon into the ocean-atmosphere system. This event, known as the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), had far reaching and significant impacts on global marine and terrestrial ecosystems that ranged from mass extinction of deep sea foraminifera to dispersal and subsequent radiation of plants and ungulates. The combination of these climatic and biotic perturbations initiated dramatic changes in the planet's biogeochemical cycles that eventually worked to restore equilibrium to the global carbon cycle. However, the recovery process took nearly 200,000 yrs. We propose a multi-institutional interdisciplinary program to investigate the effects of the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) on the global biosphere and coupled biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nutrients. This project will bring together an international team of experts that includes 11 senior investigators from the US, and 5 from Europe, New Zealand, and China. Building on a foundation of existing work, this study will utilize an array of models to determine the coupling of inorganic and organic chemical processes, to evaluate the relative contributions of these processes in sequestering excess carbon, on short and long-time scales. Empirical data representing marine and terrestrial systems will be generated and used to constrain and evaluate model results. We will evaluate and test existing hypotheses concerning the nature of first order effects and feedbacks of the PETM perturbation on the biosphere and coupled biogeochemical cycles. There are many parallels between the events of 55 Ma and the present day in terms of forcing and response. There are also many differences in the structure of biotic communities and the configuration of continents and oceans. Nevertheless, at a fundamental level, biogeochemical systems and the biosphere would have responded much as they do today. As such, the PETM provides a unique and, possibly the only, opportunity to investigate the short and long-term effects of abrupt greenhouse gas induced warming on global environments.