Digitization TCN: Collaborative Research: The Cretaceous World: Digitizing Fossils to Reconstruct Evolving Ecosystems in the Western Interior Seaway

数字化 TCN：合作研究：白垩纪世界：数字化化石以重建西部内陆航道不断演变的生态系统

• 批准号: 1602101
• 负责人: Rowan Martindale
• 金额: $ 20.98万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Austin
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-07-01 至 2021-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1602101&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Digitization; TCN; Collaborative; Research; Cretaceous

Between 65 and 100 million years ago, during the time that dinosaurs walked the earth, a large, tropical seaway covered the central part of what is now North America. This seaway teemed with marine life. Snails and clams lived on the seafloor; ammonites, along with giant mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, sharks, and fish, swam about; at the same time early birds and pterosaurs floated on or flew above the seaway. What remains today is a prolific fossil record that has been collected by paleontologists for over 100 years. Notable fossils from this time period and region are on display at museums around the world. However, the vast bulk of fossils collected from this region are locked away in museum drawers. To provide scientists and the general public access to these fossils and their associated data, this project proposes to digitize invertebrate and vertebrate fossils from this time period and region, making information accessible through searchable electronic databases. Additionally, a variety of online resources illustrating and describing these fossils and mapping their distributions will be developed. A freely accessible online textbook of paleontology will be generated and a website and App will be developed to highlight the appearances, occurrences, and ages of constituent species, to help students and aspiring paleontologists identify and learn about these fossils. The project plans to generate a variety of curricular materials for K-12 education, including 3-D scans of fossils for free download and printed 3-D models for classroom use. Products of this project will also include workshops to engage science teachers and items to augment public programs and exhibits at participating institutions. This work will greatly increase the scientific value of eight major U.S. museum collections of fossils. The museum collections contain large amounts of data useful for studying what causes marine species to migrate, go extinct, and evolve during a long period of greenhouse climate conditions similar to those our planet may soon experience. These data have relevance for evaluating how global change has and will continue to affect life on earth. An estimated 164,000 specimens collected from thousands of locations, in the region once occupied by the Western Interior Seaway, will be databased and georeferenced. Representatives from each of roughly 1,500 microfossil, invertebrate, and vertebrate species will be imaged. The digitized records will be made available online via individual museum databases, iDigBio, and iDigPaleo. The resultant data will enable scientists to answer questions about how different species interact and ecosystems change in the face of environmental shifts during a key time in the history of life. Moreover, the data will be ideal for use with an assortment of modern quantitative tools -including paleoecological niche modeling (PaleoENM) - and will help improve paleoclimate and paleoceanographic models. Finally, several undergraduate and graduate students will be trained. Results of the project will be published at the following url: www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org.

65 至 1 亿年前，当恐龙在地球上行走时，一条巨大的热带航道覆盖了现在北美的中部地区。这条航道充满了海洋生物。蜗牛和蛤蜊生活在海底；菊石与巨型沧龙、蛇颈龙、鲨鱼和鱼类一起游动。与此同时，早起的鸟类和翼龙在海道上漂浮或飞翔。今天留下的是古生物学家一百多年来收集的丰富化石记录。这个时期和地区的著名化石在世界各地的博物馆展出。然而，从该地区收集的大量化石都被锁在博物馆的抽屉里。为了让科学家和公众能够获取这些化石及其相关数据，该项目建议将这一时期和地区的无脊椎动物和脊椎动物化石数字化，从而通过可搜索的电子数据库提供信息。此外，还将开发各种在线资源来说明和描述这些化石并绘制其分布图。将生成一本可免费访问的在线古生物学教科书，并开发一个网站和应用程序，以突出显示组成物种的外观、出现和年龄，以帮助学生和有抱负的古生物学家识别和了解这些化石。该项目计划为 K-12 教育生成各种课程材料，包括免费下载的化石 3D 扫描和供课堂使用的打印 3D 模型。该项目的产品还将包括吸引科学教师参与的研讨会以及增强参与机构的公共项目和展览的物品。这项工作将大大提高美国八个主要博物馆收藏的化石的科学价值。博物馆藏品包含大量数据，可用于研究海洋物种在长期温室气候条件下迁徙、灭绝和进化的原因，类似于我们的星球可能很快就会经历的情况。这些数据有助于评估全球变化已经并将继续影响地球上的生命。从西部内陆航道曾经占据的地区的数千个地点收集的估计 164,000 个标本将被数据库化和地理参考。大约 1,500 种微化石、无脊椎动物和脊椎动物物种的代表将被成像。数字化记录将通过各个博物馆数据库、iDigBio 和 iDigPaleo 在线提供。由此产生的数据将使科学家能够回答有关在生命历史的关键时期面对环境变化时不同物种如何相互作用以及生态系统如何变化的问题。此外，这些数据非常适合与各种现代定量工具（包括古生态位模型（PaleoENM））一起使用，并将有助于改进古气候和古海洋学模型。最后，还将培养数名本科生和研究生。该项目的结果将在以下网址发布：www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org。