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

智力优势：本课题的重点是收集横贯南极山脉（CTM）中部二叠纪-三叠纪（P-T）岩石中的植物化石和地貌化石，以及沉积学和古生态沉积环境的详细数据。植物化石是重要的气候代用物，为了解过去提供了一个独特的窗口，而CTM化石是研究植物在全球变化期间对强烈的季节性、极地光照制度做出反应的重要数据来源。该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？中国晚古生代和中生代复杂的环境和气候历史包括：1)消冰作用，2)冰期后景观和生物群的发育和演化，3)与二叠纪末大灭绝相关的环境和生物变化，4)早三叠纪的环境恢复，5)强烈的、可能失控的三叠纪温室，6)广泛的造山作用和前陆盆地体系的发展。pi将定量和定性地收集压缩区系，以获得生物多样性和丰度数据。由于硅化木材也存在，pi将分析树木年轮和生长在温暖的高纬度环境中，这是现代没有类似物的。CTM植物化石可以提供生物和环境信息：1)解释冈瓦纳从冰窖到温室条件下的古气候；2)在P-T边界上追踪花的进化；3)重建南极植物群落；4)进一步了解植物对高纬度的适应。该研究的智力价值包括：1)追踪冰川退缩后植物的进化；2)研究植物的组成和多样性；3)获得这些生态系统在早三叠世的恢复数据，以及早中三叠世植物覆盖和多样性的变化数据。南极洲是地球上唯一一个有大量陆生岩石露头的地方，还有广泛保存完好的植物化石，这些化石跨越了这个关键时期。更广泛的影响：更广泛的影响包括公众宣传；对妇女和代表性不足的学生进行教学和指导；指导研究生、博士后和新教员；与北京大学自然历史博物馆教育处合作举办南极古气候探究式研讨会；继续通过恩波里亚州立大学的“拓展视野计划”和堪萨斯大学的“三人计划”为中学女生举办科学研讨会；通过麦克默多站的视频/计算机连接和威斯康星州和堪萨斯州的K-12科学课程的卫星电话会议，以及通过参加威斯康星大学的国家科学基金会教师研究经验项目，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.