CAREER: Fossil Amber Insight Into Macroevolutionary Dynamics in an Ecologically Diverse Island System

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。化石为地球上漫长历史时期塑造生态系统和生物多样性的过程提供了直接证据。特别是，化石记录帮助我们更好地了解了过去的物种灭绝和生态变化，这与一个快速变化的星球越来越相关。与此同时，化石记录高度不完整，很难统一我们对跨越数百万年的长时间段的生态系统的理解。该项目寻求在一个独特的岛屿系统中综合来自数据丰富的化石和现代社区的信息，以揭示负责维持生物多样性的广泛适用的模式和过程。这项研究的重点是蚂蚁和伊斯帕尼奥拉的蚂蚁群落，它们都被高度详细地保存在琥珀化石记录中，并在今天的岛上高度多样化。这项综合将解决一些关键问题，包括：为什么一些生物灭绝，而另一些生物长期存在？生态系统和社区在很长一段时间内的变化有多大的可预测性？这些变化发生的速度有多快？这项研究的知识和数据将用于制作K-12教育材料，这些材料将通过工业设计和生物学本科生之间的跨学科合作而开发。教育产品将在美国和多米尼加共和国的学校和博物馆广泛传播。该项目将为当地和世界各地的研究人员提供生物、生态和分析资源。它将为高中、本科生、研究生和博士后提供研究和教育机会，并提供包容性指导。该项目将为伊斯帕尼奥拉上的整个化石和现存群落建立一个全面的数据集，总共有大约250个物种。项目活动将结合分类学、分类学、形态学、高分辨率CT扫描成像、基因组规模的分子数据、系统发育学、有监督的机器学习和系统发育比较方法。研究是以标本为基础的，将利用并为多个博物馆收藏品做出贡献。来自化石和现存分类群的数据将被用来检验与灭绝选择性、动物群更替和宏观进化过程在群落组装中的作用有关的相互关联的假设。所有项目产品，包括数据集，都将向公众开放，并将为未来的研究人员提供开放获取的资源。该项目的教育产品包括触觉课程计划和积极学习项目，这些项目将接触到服务不足的社区，并鼓励参与STEM职业道路。这一纳入工作将通过高中到博士后指导管道得到进一步支持，目标是在生物学研究中招募和留住不同的学生。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。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Fossils provide direct evidence for the processes that shape ecosystems and biodiversity over long periods of history on earth. In particular, the fossil record has helped us better understand past extinctions and ecological changes, which are increasingly relevant to a rapidly changing planet. At the same time, the fossil record is highly incomplete, and it can be difficult to unify our understanding of ecosystems across long periods of time spanning millions of years. This project seeks to synthesize information from data-rich fossil and modern communities in a unique island system to reveal broadly applicable patterns and processes that are responsible for maintaining biodiversity. This research focuses on ants and ant communities of Hispaniola, which are both preserved in high detail in the amber fossil record and highly diverse on the island today. This synthesis will address key questions including: Why do some organisms go extinct while others persist over long periods of time? How predictable are changes in ecosystems and communities across long periods of time? How quickly do these changes occur? Knowledge and data resulting from this research will be used in the creation of K-12 educational materials, which will be developed through interdisciplinary collaborations between industrial design and biology undergraduates. Educational products will be widely disseminated in schools and museums in the U.S. and Dominican Republic. The project will produce biological, ecological, and analytical resources for researchers locally and worldwide. It will provide research and educational opportunities at the high school, undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels with inclusive mentoring.The project will build a comprehensive dataset for the entire fossil and extant ant communities on Hispaniola, with a total of ~250 species collectively. Project activities will integrate taxonomy, systematics, morphology, high-resolution CT-scan imaging, genome-scale molecular data, phylogenetics, supervised machine learning, and phylogenetic comparative methods. Research is specimen-based and will utilize and contribute to multiple museum collections. Data derived from fossil and extant taxa will be used to test interrelated hypotheses related to extinction selectivity, faunal turnover, and the role of macroevolutionary processes in community assembly. All project products, including datasets, will be made publicly available, and open-access resources will be produced for future researchers. Educational products from the project comprise tactile lesson plans and active learning projects that will reach underserved communities and encourage participation in STEM career pathways. This inclusion work will be further supported through a high school to postdoctoral mentoring pipeline with the goal of recruiting and retaining diverse students in biological research.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.