CAREER: Ecological turnover at the dawn of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event - quantifying the Cambro-Ordovician transition through the lens of exceptional preservation

最早的动物起源于5亿多年前，但海洋生物直到大约4.5亿年前所谓的大奥陶纪生物多样性事件(GoBe)才达到现代生物多样性和生态复杂性的水平。虽然GoBe代表着从第一批动物的出现到随后对陆地的探索之间的关键过渡，但这一重大事件在很大程度上是由主要由贝壳、骨骼和牙齿组成的有偏见的化石记录提供信息的。这个项目调查了特殊的化石沉积--其中包含软体动物的遗骸--在GoBe的早期阶段如何影响我们对海洋生物多样性和生态学的知识。对摩洛哥Fezouata化石生物群的新调查将导致发现数十个新的灭绝动物物种，对第一个类似现代的海洋群落的组织产生无与伦比的理解，并允许对定义当今生物圈的生态复杂性的上升进行评估。这个项目将来自地质学和进化生物学专业人数不足的本科生纳入一个雄心勃勃的研究、教育和推广计划。此外，该项目还将在大波士顿制作一个独特的增强现实增强的自然历史博物馆展览，以及为K-12学生、教师和普通公众提供权威的在线资源。这项研究调查了在GoBe的早期阶段，保存异常完好的非生物矿化化石生物如何影响我们对动物进化和生态学的理解，这导致了整个显生界海洋生物在较低分类水平上最大和最快的多样化。尖端成像技术，如X射线计算机断层扫描，将被用于研究Fezouata化石，以揭示通常被岩石基质掩盖的新的解剖特征。这些技术将能够描述和描述摩洛哥Tremadocian-Floian Fezouata生物群的全部生物多样性。进行地层控制采样和处理博物馆藏品中的标本将使PI能够重建Fezouata生物群中化石生物的古生态和群落结构，并评估它们在该沉积物中的时空变异性。最后，该项目将测试非生物矿化生物如何为寒武纪-奥陶纪过渡期间的生态周转模式提供信息，并导致类似现代的海洋群落的早期建立。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The first animals originated over half a billion years ago, but marine life did not reach modern-like levels of biodiversity and ecological complexity until approximately 450 million years ago during the so-called Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, or GOBE (go-bee). Although the GOBE represents a critical transition between the appearance of the first animals and the subsequent exploration of dry land, this major event is largely informed by a biased fossil record consisting mainly of shells, bones, and teeth. This project investigates how exceptional fossil deposits – which contain the remains of soft-bodied animals – impact our knowledge of marine biodiversity and ecology during the early stages of the GOBE. New investigations of the Fezouata fossil biota of Morocco will lead to the discovery of dozens of new extinct animal species, produce an unrivalled understanding of the organization of the first modern-like marine communities, and allows for an evaluation of the rise in ecological complexity that defines the biosphere today. This project integrates undergraduate students from groups that are underrepresented in geology and evolutionary biology into an ambitious research, educational and outreach program. In addition, the project will produce a unique augmented reality-enhanced natural history museum exhibition in Greater Boston, as well as authoritative online resources for K-12 students, teachers, and the general public. This research investigates how exceptionally preserved non-biomineralizing fossil organisms impact our understanding of animal evolution and ecology during the early stages of the GOBE, which caused the largest and fastest diversification at lower taxonomic levels of marine organisms for the entire Phanerozoic. Cutting-edge imaging techniques, such as X-ray computed tomography, will be used to study the Fezouata fossils to reveal new anatomical features normally obscured by the rock matrix. These techniques will allow for the description and characterization of the full biodiversity of the Tremadocian-Floian Fezouata biota of Morocco. Conducting stratigraphically controlled sampling and working with specimens in museum collections will allow the PI to reconstruct the paleoecology and community structure of fossil organisms from the Fezouata biota and assess their spatiotemporal variability within this deposit. Finally, the project will test how non-biomineralizing organisms inform patterns of ecological turnover during the Cambrian-Ordovician transition and lead to the early establishment of modern-like marine communities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.