Collaborative Research: Paleobiogeography, paleoecology, and continued investigation of a diverse, terminal Miocene, primate-bearing fauna from southern China

中新世早期和中期（约2300万至1100万年前）见证了世界热带和亚热带森林的扩张，以及在低季节性和高生产力的森林中茁壮成长的哺乳动物的多样性和分布的增加。类人猿在这些条件下在旧大陆繁衍生息。中新世晚期欧亚大陆亚热带森林的萎缩导致猿的多样性和丰度下降，而猴子和其他能够在更开放和季节性栖息地生存的哺乳动物的兴起。中国南方的几个化石遗址提供了这一关键转变的证据。本项目将对中国云南水塘坝化石遗址进行调查，因为该遗址发现了大量保存完好的中新世晚期（~6.1万年）哺乳动物的遗骸。其中有一只猿和一只猴子，这是欧亚中新世首次同时出现。一个由美国和中国调查人员组成的国际小组对这些化石的恢复和详细研究，将有可能描述水塘坝的古环境，以及该遗址许多物种的性质和适应能力，尤其是灵长类动物和食肉动物。将水塘坝生物群与东亚其他类似年龄的生物群进行直接比较，可以更清楚地了解该地区环境演变的性质和速度。水塘坝捕捉到了从中新世广泛的常绿森林到随后更加多样化和季节性栖息地的转变的独特快照。因此，该项目促进了对处于重大变化临界点的生态系统的理解。水塘坝的动物群和环境为一个独特的区域生态系统提供了一幅不同寻常的清晰画面，其中既有长期存在的物种，也有新来者。更好地了解这种生态系统中物种的适应性，可能有助于揭示现代不稳定环境的动力学。该项目促进了与中国学者的强有力的国际合作，包括对中国古人类学家、古生物学家和化石制备者的高级培训，并通过媒体报道和博物馆展览的发展促进了中国的公共科学教育。一名美国青年科学家将全面参与研究，美国本科生也将接受大量的参与性研究培训。

The early and middle Miocene (ca. 23-11 million years ago) witnessed an expansion of the world's tropical and subtropical forests, and an increase in the diversity and distribution of mammals that thrived in forests with low seasonality and high productivity. Apes flourished under these conditions in the Old World. The contraction of subtropical forests in the late Miocene in Eurasia resulted in a decline in the diversity and abundance of apes, and the rise of monkeys and other mammals able to survive in more open and seasonal habitats. Several fossil sites in southern China provide evidence of this critical transition. In this project, the fossil site of Shuitangba, Yunnan Province, China, will be investigated because it has yielded the abundant and well-preserved remains of many mammal species of terminal Miocene age (~6.1 mya). Among them are an ape and a monkey, the first such co-occurrence in the Miocene of Eurasia. Recovery and detailed study of the fossils by an international team of American and Chinese investigators will make possible the characterization of the paleoenvironment of Shuitangba and the nature and adaptations of the site's many species, especially its primates and carnivores. Direct comparison of the Shuitangba biota with others of similar age in eastern Asia will provide a clearer idea of the nature and pace of environmental evolution in the region.Shuitangba captures a unique snapshot of the transition from the widespread evergreen forests of the Miocene to the more heterogeneous and seasonal habitats that followed. This project thus promotes the understanding of an ecosystem poised at the tipping point of a major change. The Shuitangba fauna and environment provide an unusually clear picture of a distinctive regional ecosystem that contained long-established species alongside new arrivals. A better understanding of the adaptations of species within such ecosystems may shed light on the dynamics of modern unstable environments.This project fosters strong international collaboration with Chinese scholars, including advanced training for Chinese paleoanthropologists, paleobiologists, and fossil preparators, and promotes public science education in China through media coverage and development of museum displays. A junior US scientist will be integrally involved in the research, and US undergraduate students also will receive substantial participatory research training.