Higher-Taxon Fidelity: Comparative Taphonomy of Marine Benthic Associations in Holocene Depositional Systems of Coastal North Carolina

更高分类保真度：北卡罗来纳州沿海全新世沉积系统中海洋底栖生物组合的比较埋藏学本项目将比较现代海洋群落与工业革命前同一地区存在的过去群落。过去的社区将利用沿海栖息地表面或周围大量发现的贝类遗骸进行重建。此外，该项目还将评估主要类型海洋动物的生物化潜力（保存的可能性），主要侧重于贝类。利用外滩（美国北卡罗来纳州）的沿海生境，将从商业和科学两方面重要的几个主要动物群体的角度对海洋群落进行定量评估。选择目标区域是因为存在丰富多样的海洋动物（活的和死的），包括底栖软体动物、海胆、节肢动物、环节动物和腕足动物。我们会在多个地点进行抽样调查，对活的生物和死的贝类遗骸进行定量比较。该项目将产生一个约20，000个样本的数据集，代表约200个活的和/或死的生物体样本。第一个目标是量化活群落和死贝类积累之间的差异，以便提供数据，使我们能够更可靠地解释化石记录中保存的生态信息（贝类是保存为化石的主要生物类型）。也就是说，为了更严格地了解化石记录中记录的环境和生态变化，有必要确定死亡组合是否可以提供有意义的生物多样性，动物群组成和生物群落的其他方面的估计。第二，严格了解目前贝类群落居住地区的长期生态系统变化，对于评估人类对海洋生物的影响至关重要。也就是说，对现存的、在生态学上了解的、往往具有经济重要性的贝类进行系统取样，应有助于提供直接数据，以评估人类对沿海生态系统的影响。这反过来应导致对我们在沿海地区的各种活动的环境-以及最终的社会-后果进行更知情的评价该项目将提供一个场所，培训一名博士后研究员，使其能够整合不同的数据，并发展古生物学方面的可转让技能，海洋科学和统计方法。此外，还为从代表性不足的少数群体中招聘的本科生实习生划拨了资金（在校内多文化方案和服务部的协助下）。这些本科生将获得实践经验，并将参与科学教育/推广活动，这也将使他们能够开发有竞争力的投资组合，以追求研究生教育。该项目还将提供许多本科教育和研究机会，包括适合在自然科学入门和高级课程中开发实验室练习的数据集。该提案将支持一名女博士后研究员，并启动弗吉尼亚理工大学和杜克大学海洋实验室之间的合作。将利用受欢迎的网上场所以互动方式让公众参与。

Higher-Taxon Fidelity: Comparative Taphonomy of Marine Benthic Associations in Holocene Depositional Systems of Coastal North Carolina This project will compare present-day marine communities with past communities that existed in the same areas prior to the industrial revolution. The past communities will be reconstructed using shellfish remains found abundantly at or around the surface in coastal habitats. Also, the project will assess fossilization potential (probability of preservation) of major types of marine animals, with primary focus on shellfish. Using coastal habitats of the Outer Banks (North Carolina, USA), marine communities will be assessed quantitatively in terms of several major groups of animals important both in commercial and scientific terms. The targeted field area has been selected because of the presence of abundant and diverse marine animals (both live and dead), including benthic mollusks, echinoids, arthropods, annelids, and brachiopods. We will sample multiple sites to carry out quantitative comparisons of living organisms and dead shellfish remains. The project should generate a dataset of ~20,000 specimens representing ~200 samples of living and/or dead organisms.Two primary goals motivate this study. First goal is to quantify differences between live communities and dead shellfish accumulations in order to provide data that will allow us to interpret more reliably ecological information preserved in the fossil record (shellfish is a dominant type of organisms preserved as fossils). Namely, to develop more rigorous understanding of environmental and ecological changes recorded in the fossil record, it is necessary to determine whether death assemblages can provide meaningful estimates of biodiversity, faunal composition, and other aspects of living communities. Second, a rigorous understanding of long-term ecosystem changes in areas inhabited by present-day shellfish communities is critical for assessing human impacts on marine life. Namely, systematic sampling of extant, ecologically understood, and often economically important shellfish should contribute direct data for assessing human impacts on coastal ecosystems. This, in turn, should result in a more informed evaluation of environmental -- and, ultimately, societal -- consequences of our diverse activities in coastal areas (from industry to tourism) and improved guidelines for developing sustainable approaches to human uses of coastal areas.This project will offer a venue for training a post-doctoral researcher in integrating disparate data and developing transferable skills in paleontology, marine sciences, and statistical methods. In addition funding has been allocated for undergraduate student internships to be recruited from underrepresented minority groups (with assistance from the on-campus Department of Multicultural Programs and Services). These undergraduates will receive hands-on field experience and will be involved in science educational/outreach activities, which will also allow them to develop competitive portfolios for pursuing graduate education. Numerous undergraduate educational and research opportunities will also be provided by this project, including datasets suitable for developing laboratory exercise in introductory and advanced courses in natural sciences. This proposal will support one female post-doctoral researcher and initiate collaboration between Virginia Tech and Duke University Marine Laboratory. Popular online venues will be used to involve the public in an interactive manner.