Collaborative Research: Antarctic Ecosystems across the Permian-Triassic Boundary: Integrating Paleobotany, Sedimentology, and Paleoecology

学术价值：本项目的重点是收集横贯南极山脉中部二叠纪-三叠纪（P-T）岩石中的植物化石和孢粉化石，以及沉积学和古生态沉积环境的详细资料。化石植物是重要的气候代理，为了解过去提供了一个独特的窗口，而CTM化石是关于植物在全球变化期间对强烈季节性极地光照制度作出反应的方式的重要数据来源。拟议的项目利用古植物学专业知识，结合详细的沉积学和地层学，重建二叠纪-三叠纪植物群落及其古环境。这种跨学科的方法可以揭示南极洲的细节？该地区复杂的晚古生代和中生代环境和气候历史，包括：1）冰消作用，2）冰后期景观和生物群的发展和演化，3）与二叠纪末生物大灭绝有关的环境和生物变化，4）三叠纪早期环境恢复，5）强烈的、可能失控的三叠纪温室效应，6）广泛的造山作用和前陆盆地系统的发展。研究所将从数量和质量上收集压缩植物群，以获得生物多样性和丰度数据。由于硅化木材也存在，PI将分析树木的年轮和在温暖的高纬度环境中的生长，这是没有现代模拟的。南极洲植物化石可提供生物学和环境学信息：1）解释冈瓦纳古大陆从冰库向温室迁移时的古气候; 2）追溯古植物区系的演化; 3）重建南极植物生活; 4）进一步了解植物对高纬度的适应性。该研究的知识价值包括：1）追踪冰川退缩后的植物进化; 2）检查PTB的植物组成和多样性; 3）获得早三叠世这些生态系统恢复的数据，以及早中三叠世植物覆盖和多样性的变化。南极洲是地球上唯一一个有大量陆地岩石露头的地方，加上广泛而保存完好的植物化石，跨越了这一关键时期。更广泛的影响：更广泛的影响包括公众宣传;教学，指导妇女和代表性不足的学生;指导研究生，博士后和新的女教师;与KU自然历史博物馆教育司一起举办关于南极古气候的调查讲习班;通过恩波里亚州立大学的“拓展你的视野”方案和昆士兰大学的“TRIO”方案，继续支持为中学女生举办科学讲习班;通过麦默多站的视频/计算机链接和来自威斯康星州和堪萨斯州的K-12科学班的现场卫星电话会议，以及通过参与威斯康星州大学的NSF教师研究经验计划，探索南极地球科学。

Intellectual Merit:The focus of this proposal is to collect fossil plants and palynomorphs from Permian-Triassic (P-T) rocks of the central Transantarctic Mountains (CTM), together with detailed data on sedimentologic and paleoecologic depositional environments. Fossil plants are important climate proxies that offer a unique window into the past, and the CTM fossils are an important source of data on the ways that plants responded to a strongly seasonal, polar light regime during a time of global change. The proposed project uses paleobotanical expertise, integrated with detailed sedimentology and stratigraphy, to reconstruct Permian-Triassic plant communities and their paleoenvironments. This interdisciplinary approach could uncover details of Antarctica?s complex late Paleozoic and Mesozoic environmental and climatic history which included: 1) deglaciation, 2) development and evolution of a post-glacial landscape and biota, 3) environmental and biotic change associated with the end-Permian mass extinction, 4) environmental recovery in the earliest Triassic, 5) strong, possible runaway Triassic greenhouse, and 6) widespread orogenesis and development of a foreland basin system. The PIs will collect compression floras both quantitatively and qualitatively to obtain biodiversity and abundance data. Since silicified wood is also present, the PIs will analyze tree rings and growth in a warm, high-latitude environment for which there is no modern analogue. Fossil plants from the CTM can provide biological and environmental information to: 1) interpret paleoclimate when Gondwana moved from icehouse to greenhouse conditions; 2) trace floral evolution across the P-T boundary; 3) reconstruct Antarctic plant life; 4) further understanding of plant adaptations to high latitudes. The Intellectual Merit of the research includes: 1) tracing floral evolution after the retreat of glaciers; 2) examining floral composition and diversity across the PTB; and 3) obtaining data on the recovery of these ecosystems in the Early Triassic, as well as changes in floral cover and diversity in the Early-Middle Triassic. Antarctica is the only place on Earth that includes extensive outcrops of terrestrial rocks, combined with widespread and well-preserved plant fossils, which spans this crucial time period.Broader impacts:The broader impacts include public outreach; teaching, and mentoring of women and underrepresented students; mentoring graduate student, postdoctoral, and new faculty women; development of an inquiry-based workshop on Antarctic paleoclimate with the Division of Education, KU Natural History Museum; continuing support of workshops for middle school girls in science via the Expanding Your Horizons Program, Emporia State University, and the TRIO program, KU; exploring Antarctic geosciences through video/computer links from McMurdo Station and satellite phone conferences from the field with K-12 science classes in Wisconsin and Kansas, and through participation in the NSF Research Experiences for Teachers program at the University of Wisconsin.