Workshop: Sino-US Collaborative Research on Critical Transitions In History Of Life; Denver, Colorado; October 5-14 2007

中国和美国的化石遗址、收藏和科学家都是世界上最好的。美国重要的古生物遗址早在一个多世纪前就已为人所知，并在全美各地的国家和地区博物馆中成为重要的参考藏品。中国的古生物学探索在最近十年才刚刚开始，包括老宁的羽毛恐龙遗址和云南省的寒武纪爆发动物群都有了惊人的发现。重大新发现的前景是巨大的。在地球历史的许多时期，美国和中国的古生物资源是互补的，需要以协调的方式进行研究，以便最大限度地取得成果。美国和中国古生物学家之间的长期合作集中在生命经历了一些关键转变的几个层面上。这些关键的转变极大地影响了地球的历史及其多样化生物群的演化。例如，海洋动物的奥陶纪辐射、白垩纪-第三纪的大灭绝和随后的生物恢复，以及青藏高原的新生代隆起及其对气候和演化的影响。尽管我们对这些关键转变的理解在过去15年里取得了重大进展，这些进展来自中国和美国基本上独立的发现和研究计划，但通过科学合作，我们对这些关键转变的理解仍有可能取得更大进展。关于这一主题的研讨会曾分别于2005年11月在华盛顿和2006年6月在北京举行(中国分别得到美国国家科学基金会和中国国家科学基金会的支持)。PIS提议在丹佛举办第三次研讨会，以继续进行联合讨论，并制定关于三个关键转变的古生物学和地质学合作研究的具体计划：海洋动物群的奥陶纪转变、白垩纪-第三纪的灭绝和随后的恢复，以及青藏高原的新生代隆起及其气候和演化影响。拟议中的研讨会具有广泛的影响，通过正式确定美国和中国地球科学界之间专注于关键转变的合作计划，提高我们对环境控制生命进化的总体理解。这项合作将涉及古生物学家、地质年代学家、同位素和有机地球化学家以及沉积学家，并将推动开发和使用大型数据库，如古生物数据库(PBDB)，并促进美国和中国科学家之间的综合多学科研究。这些活动将建立一个具有共同目标的中美科学家网络，促进知识和信息的共享。研讨会协调员将努力为初级科学家和学生创造参与国际合作的机会。

Chinese and American fossil sites, collections, and scientists are among the best in the world. Important American paleontological sites have been known for more than a century and have led to major reference collections in national and regional museums across the United States. The paleontological exploration of China has just begun in the last decade and spectacular finds are being made including the feathered dinosaur sites of Laoning Province and the Cambrian explosion faunas of Yunnan Province. The prospects of major new discoveries being made are great. There are many intervals of Earth history where American and Chinese paleontological resources complement one another and demand to be studied in a coordinated fashion in order to maximize results. Long term collaboration between American and Chinese paleontologists has focused on several levels where life experienced some critical transitions. These critical transitions have disproportionately shaped the history of earth and the evolution of its diverse biota. Examples include the Ordovician radiation of marine animals, the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction and subsequent biotic recovery, and the Cenozoic uplift of the Tibetan plateau and its climatic and evolutionary impact. Whereas major advances in our understanding of these critical transitions have come in the last fifteen years out of largely independent discoveries and research programs in China and the United States, there is potential for even greater progress in our understanding of these critical transitions through scientific collaboration. Workshops on this topic have been previously held in November of 2005 in Washington DC and June of 2006 in Beijing China supported respectively by NSF-US and NSF-China). PIs are proposing a third workshop to be held in Denver to continue joint discussions and to develop a concrete plan for collaborative paleontological and geological research on three critical transitions: The Ordovician transition of marine faunas, The Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction and subsequent recovery, and the Cenozoic uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and its climatic and evolutionary impact. The proposed workshop has broad implications for enhancing our general understanding of environmental controls on the evolution of life by formalizing a collaborative program between the US and Chinese Earth Sciences community focused on the critical transitions. This collaboration will involve paleontologists, geochronologists, isotope and organic geochemists, and sedimentologists, and will forge the development and use of large databases such as the Paleobiology Database (PBDB) and stimulate integrated multidisciplinary research between the US and Chinese scientists. These activities will create a network of Chinese and American scientists with common goals that will facilitate the sharing of knowledge and information. The workshop coordinators will strive to create opportunities for junior scientists and students to be involved in international collaborations.