CAREER: A Late Triassic Origin for Modern Marine Predator-prey Dynamics

捕食是现代浅海生态系统生态结构的重要驱动力，但对现代捕食-被捕食动力学在过去海洋中的发展了解甚少。许多最重要的现代海洋捕食者和它们的猎物出现在大约2282.02亿年前的晚三叠世。这项研究将考察捕食者-猎物之间的相互作用在这一戏剧性环境变化时期建立现代生态系统中的作用。由本科生和附近部落高中的学生组成的学生指导小组将开发研究项目，利用作为本研究的一部分所学到的技能来解决环境问题。本研究的目的是量化晚三叠世三个不同海区捕食者和被捕食者类群之间的对抗关系。将从内华达州、意大利和新西兰地区收集一系列大量化石样本，以确定捕食者发生和丰度的地理模式，以及猎物群体的丰度和形态模式数据。为了建立反映变化的生态关系的时间和空间分辨的动物群数据集，将使用多种年代地层学方法将三个化石大样本序列相互关联并与识别的地质事件进行关联。将使用古生态位模拟来测试这个捕食者-被捕食者系统中的升级概念，从而允许评估内在和外在因素在生态功能和健康中的作用。研究结果将通过公共数据库、出版物和学生研究人员在会议上的演讲获得。

Predation is an important driver of ecological structure in modern shallow marine ecosystems, but the development of modern predator-prey dynamics in past oceans are poorly understood. Many of the most important modern marine predators and their prey animals appeared during the Late Triassic, about 228 ? 202 million years ago. This research will examine the role of predator-prey interactions in building modern-style ecological systems during this time of dramatic environmental change. Student mentorship groups comprised of undergraduates and students from nearby tribal high schools will develop research projects to solve environmental problems using the skills learned as part of the present study. The goal of the present research is to quantify the antagonistic relationships between predator and prey taxa from three distinct marine regions during the Late Triassic. Series of fossiliferous bulk samples will be collected from regions in Nevada, Italy, and New Zealand to determine geographic patterns of predator occurrence and abundance, coupled with abundance and morphological pattern data for prey groups. In order to create a temporally- and spatially-resolved faunal dataset reflecting shifting ecological relationships, the three fossiliferous bulk sample sequences will be correlated to each other and to recognized geologic events using multiple chronostratigraphic methods. Paleoecological niche modeling will be used to test the concept of escalation in this predator-prey system, thus allowing for an evaluation of the role of both intrinsic and extrinsic factors in ecological function and health. Results will be made available through public databases, publications, and presentations at conferences by student researchers.