Collaborative Research: Gateway to North America--the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI) in Mexico and Origin of C4 Grassland

合作研究：北美门户——墨西哥大美洲生物交汇处（GABI）与C4草原起源

• 批准号: 1949814
• 负责人: Yang Wang
• 金额: $ 14.21万
• 依托单位: Florida State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-08-01 至 2025-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1949814&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Gateway; North; America

Historical patterns of animal movements between the Americas are crucial to understanding current ecosystems and natural resources. The Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI) is a highly significant historical event of land animal movements between North and South America, triggered by the emergence of the continent-bridging Isthmus of Panama three million years ago. Isthmus formation substantially modified global ocean circulation, climate, and American ecosystems. Large animals such as giant ground sloths, armored glyptodonts, and terror birds moved northward and became an integral part of North American Ice Age ecosystems. North American elephant-like gomphotheres, horses, deer, camels, and carnivorans expanded into South America and triggered the most recent large mass extinction of native animals on that continent. A joint U.S.-Mexico team will investigate the timing and magnitude of these events in central Mexico, a critical gap in knowledge for GABI vertebrate and plant fossils. Integration of long-term fossil records with paleoenvironmental analysis will permit a more detailed reconstruction of the ecosystem reorganization events that led to today’s biodiversity patterns in the Americas. Broader impacts of the project include the development of Spanish and English museum exhibits and digital media, and research training opportunities for students from groups that are underrepresented in STEM fields.A team of vertebrate paleontologists, structural geologist, functional morphologist, phytolith botanist, and stable isotope geochemist will conduct field investigations in central Mexico to establish an integrated regional chronological framework using radiometric dates, fossil mammal biostratigraphy, and magnetostratigraphy to document succession of GABI immigrants. They will assess associated vegetation change using phytoliths and quantify relationships between herbivore diets and C4 vegetation origin, regional climate, and hydrological cycles in North America using isotope analysis of mammalian dental enamel and paleosol carbonates. Broad inter-continental mammal distributional patterns will be contextualized using network analysis to quantify deep-time biogeographic connectivity. Findings will be used to test hypotheses regarding phylogenetic relationships of key immigrant taxa, timing and delay in dispersal to high latitude regions, and climatic and environmental implications of regional C4 grassland expansion.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.

对当前的生态系统和自然资源的关键动物运动的历史模式。地峡地层形成的全球海洋循环S.Rge动物，例如巨大的地面懒惰，恐怖鸟类移动并成为美国冰生态系统不可或缺的一部分。在墨西哥中部，本地动物的重新质量。包括西班牙和英国博物馆的展览和数字媒体，以及在STEM领域中散布的研究机会使用THS评估植被的变化并量化草食动物饮食与C4植被起源，区域气候和北美的水文周期，使用Mamalian Dental Anamel和Paleosol碳酸盐的同位素分析将使用网络分析来量化深层时间分析。生物地理位置。