Collaborative Research: Ancient Biodiversity Hotspot in Southern South America: Evolution of Speciose Floras in Patagonia from latest Cretaceous to middle Eocene

最后修改日期：07/14/09最后修改人：伊丽莎白·A·凯洛格摘要该奖项由2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助。该项目调查阿根廷巴塔哥尼亚异常丰富但鲜为人知的化石植物矿藏，距今66-4700万年。到目前为止，在收集到的500多个物种中，约有80%是科学上的新物种，时间间隔包括白垩纪末(K-T)“恐龙”的灭绝和恢复以及重要的全球变暖和变冷事件。除此之外，只有北美西部的陆地植物才知道这一关键时期。作为有关南半球植物进化、分布和生态的无与伦比的数据源，化石植物群与现代生物多样性有着巨大的相关性。一些需要解决的基本问题是：1)巴塔哥尼亚有没有像北美那样的大型K-T植物灭绝和长期恢复？2)化石植物的现代分布是什么？澳大拉西亚植物，代表着通过南极洲失去的陆地连接，是最著名的，但该地区也是今天新热带森林的来源吗？3)古老的巴塔哥尼亚是雨林吗？这是一次发展成熟的国际合作，涉及丰富的智力交流。研究生和博士后的培训和职业发展是一个主要的重点，公共教育也是如此。广泛的科学利益包括：1)第一次对南美洲植物区系和古气候进行密集采样，记录了一段时间内全球的巨大兴趣；2)南美洲出现了大量新颖、年代准确的植物谱系，对植物进化和生物地理非常感兴趣；3)对植物区系有了第一个可靠的地质了解；4)很有可能发现重大的意外发现。研究成果将广泛传播。数以千计的化石标本将通过存放在一个精心策划的公共机构--阿根廷特雷洛的Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio博物馆永久提供。

Last Modified Date: 07/14/09 Last Modified By: Elizabeth A. Kellogg Abstract This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This project investigates exceptionally species-rich but poorly known fossil plant deposits in Patagonia, Argentina, dating from 66-47 million years old. Approximately 80% of more than 500 species so far collected are new to science, and the time interval includes the end-Cretaceous (K-T) "dinosaur" extinction and recovery as well as important global warming and cooling events. This critical time period is otherwise only well known, for land plants, in Western North America. The fossil floras hold immense relevance to modern biodiversity as an unrivaled data source regarding plant evolution, distribution, and ecology in the Southern Hemisphere. Some of the fundamental questions to be addressed are: 1) was there a major K-T plant extinction and long recovery in Patagonia, as in North America? 2) what are the modern distributions of the fossil plants? Australasian plants, representing a lost land connection via Antarctica, are the best known, but was the area also a source for today's Neotropical forests? and 3) was ancient Patagonia a rainforest? This is a well-developed international collaboration involving abundant intellectual exchange. Training and career advancement of graduate students and postdocs is a major focus, as well as public education. Broad scientific benefits include: 1) the first densely sampled South American floral and paleoclimatic record for a time interval of immense global interest; 2) numerous, novel, well-dated plant-lineage appearances in South America of great interest for plant evolution and biogeography; 3) the first robust geological understanding of the floras; and 4) a high potential for significant unplanned discoveries. Research results will be disseminated widely. The thousands of fossil specimens will be permanently available through deposition in a well-curated public institution, Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Trelew, Argentina.