Neogene Paleoecology of the Beardmore Glacier Region

智力价值：这个项目的主要目标是在迈耶沙漠组的两个床上取样，这两个床被认为是特别富含化石的，包括植物、昆虫、其他节肢动物、淡水软体动物和鱼类。也有可能发现一种小型有袋动物的牙齿和骨头。先前的研究表明，这些地层包含独特的化石组合，为重建古环境和古气候提供了信息。这些化石代表了以前在南极洲没有发现的生物，因此它们的研究将导致有关南半球生物地理学的新假设的发展。新的发现也将增加对古环境和古气候的认识，以及南半球生物群的生物地理关系。对于一些生物来说，如南山毛榉或锥蝽，化石可以证实南极洲作为冈瓦纳的一部分有人居住。对于其他化石，如环折蝇或淡水软体动物，预计没有在南极洲生活过，这些发现将需要重新评估系统发育的解释，并重新调查南极洲在这些生物进化史上的作用。以化石为基础的新知识将需要与来自分支学和分子遗传学的解释相结合，为一系列生物体发展更全面的系统发育假说。更广泛的影响：南极洲化石的发现及其对气候变化的影响已被证明受到媒体的欢迎。这种关注将有助于传播这项研究的结果。在实地季节之前，PI将与当地媒体和地区学校合作，从南极洲进行实地采访和网络直播。该项目还将包括在实地培训一名研究生，并在实验室对化石进行后续研究。

Intellectual Merit: The primary goal of this project is to sample two beds in the Meyer Desert Formation, which are known to be especially fossiliferous containing plants, insects, other arthropods, freshwater mollusks, and fish. There is a possibility that the teeth and bones of a small marsupial could also be found. Previous studies have demonstrated that these horizons contain unique fossil assemblages that provide information used to reconstruct paleoenvironments and paleoclimate. The fossils represent organisms previously not found in Antarctica and consequently their study will lead to the development of new hypotheses concerning southern hemisphere biogeography. The new discoveries will also increase knowledge of paleoenvironments and paleoclimates as well as biogeographic relationships of the biota of the southern hemisphere. For some organisms, such as Nothofagus (Southern Beech) or the trechine groundbeetle, fossils would confirm that Antarctica was inhabited as part of Gondwana. For other fossils, such as the cyclorrhaphan fly or freshwater mollusks not expected to have inhabited Antarctica, the discoveries will require a reassessment of phylogenetic interpretations and a reinvestigation of the role of Antarctica in the evolutionary history of those organisms. The new fossil-based knowledge will require integration with interpretations from cladistics and molecular genetics to develop more comprehensive phylogenetic hypotheses for a range of organisms.Broader impacts: The discovery of fossils in Antarctica and implications for climate change has proven to be popular with the media. This attention will help disseminate the results of this study. Before the field season, the PI will work with local media and with area schools to set up field interviews and web casts from Antarctica. The project will also involve the training of a graduate student in the field and in the follow up studies of the fossils in the laboratory.