Climate-vegetation interactions in a warming world: establishing a long-term collaboration on the Early Permian floras of Patagonia (Argentina)

该项目旨在为来自美国和阿根廷的科学家和学生参与与化石植物群调查相关的研究和教育活动奠定长期合作的基础。 首席研究员（PI）和两名美国学生将与古生物学博物馆Egidio Feruglio（阿根廷蒂华纳）的科学家Ruben Cuneo博士和伊格纳西奥Escapa博士合作。 这些科学家将提供后勤支持，并贡献他们在当地地质和化石植物群方面的丰富专业知识。 PI和美国学生将在阿根廷度过几个月，在实验室，野外和博物馆收藏的早二叠世化石植物群中工作。 活动将包括调查自然历史博物馆的植物化石收藏，收集化石和古生态数据（分类群的关联模式和地理分布）的实地工作，以及描述新分类群的实验室工作。PI还将在阿根廷教授一个试点课程。研究的地质单元，里奥热那亚组，是重要的多样性，丰富性和植物化石保存的质量，以及其早二叠世的年龄。 该项目将寻求发现和描述新的分类群，并将导致对植物化石多样性的进一步了解。 早二叠世标志着典型的古生代植物群向现代植物群过渡的开始，并见证了从主要冰川期向温暖期的过渡。该项目将启动美国一所非博士授予大学和阿根廷自然历史博物馆之间的研究和教育国际合作伙伴关系。 该项目将研究与教育活动结合起来;它还将以样本和信息的形式制作教育材料，供博物馆展出。

This project aims to lay the foundation for a long-term collaboration that will involve scientists and students from the U.S. and Argentina in research and education activities associated with investigations of fossil floras. The principal investigator (PI) and two U.S. students will collaborate with scientists at the Museo Paleontologico Egidio Feruglio (Trelew, Argentina), Drs. Ruben Cuneo and Ignacio Escapa. These scientists will provide logistic support and contribute their rich expertise on local geology and fossil floras. The PI and U.S. students will spend several months in Argentina, working in the lab, field, and museum collections on Early Permian fossil floras. Activities will include surveys of plant fossil collections in natural history museums, field work to collect fossils and paleoecological data (patterns of association and geographic distribution of taxa), and lab work to describe new taxa. The PI will also teach a pilot course in Argentina.The geologic unit studied, the Rio Genoa Formation, is important for the diversity, richness, and quality of plant fossil preservation, as well as for its Early Permian age. This project will seek to discover and characterize new taxa, and will lead to enhanced understanding of plant fossil diversity. The Early Permian marks the beginning of the transition from typical Paleozoic floras to modern floras, and witnessed the transition from a major glaciation to a warmer interval.This project will start an international partnership in research and education between a non-PhD-granting U.S. university and a natural history museum in Argentina. The project integrates research with education activities; it will also produce educational materials in the form of samples and information to be included in museum exhibits.