Collaborative Research: After the Bridgerian Crash: An Integrated Analysis of Mammalian Paleocommunities and Paleoecologies During the Middle Eocene.

合作研究：布里奇里亚崩溃之后：始新世中期哺乳动物古群落和古生态的综合分析。

• 批准号: 2011741
• 负责人: Lisa Thompson
• 金额: $ 18.43万
• 依托单位: University of Utah
• 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: 2020-05-15 至 2025-04-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2011741&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; After; Bridgerian; Crash

The modern climatic crisis appears unprecedented as it represents a spike in global warming during an overall cooling period that began during glacial times. Yet, numerous rapidly occurring global warming events are recorded in deep time. This project will study how ecosystems respond to extreme warming by investigating changes in mammalian diversity, vegetation, and soil development in ~45 million-year-old deposits found in northeastern Utah. The results of this work will provide an opportunity to use the past to understand the present response of mammalian and plant communities to rapid warming events in the long term, information that is critical for the management of habitat resources. Additional broader impacts of this study include the development of scientific expertise in undergraduate students; science outreach at multiple museums via exhibits and modules; sharing data, methods, and results via scientific dissemination, open access publications and social media; and curriculum development for K-12 students.The Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO), increased global surface temperatures by 4 degrees Celsius, which is the same increase predicted for our modern climatic crisis by 2100. The goal of this project is to generate a multi-faceted model that will correlate patterns of biotic change bracketing the MECO and thus learn more about a warming event that is similar in thermal scope to our own. This will be accomplished by integrating stratigraphic and geochemical data with biostratigraphic and ecomorphological analyses to evaluate changes in habitat and mammalian community structure in the Uinta Basin, Utah, before, during, and after the MECO event. To achieve the project goals a team of sedimentologists, geochemists, palynologists, and paleontologists will use their integrated approach to evaluate how ecosystems responded to an extreme warming event. The success of this integrated approach is expected to transform our knowledge of mammalian species and habitat response to a global warming event.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.

现代气候危机似乎是史无前例的，因为它代表了在冰川时期开始的整体降温期间全球变暖的高峰。然而，许多快速发生的全球变暖事件都被长期记录下来。该项目将通过调查犹他州东北部发现的约 4500 万年前沉积物中哺乳动物多样性、植被和土壤发育的变化，研究生态系统如何应对极端变暖。这项工作的结果将提供一个机会，利用过去来了解哺乳动物和植物群落目前对长期快速变暖事件的反应，这些信息对于栖息地资源的管理至关重要。这项研究的其他更广泛的影响包括本科生科学专业知识的发展；通过展览和模块在多个博物馆进行科学宣传；通过科学传播、开放获取出版物和社交媒体共享数据、方法和结果；以及针对 K-12 学生的课程开发。中始新世气候最佳期 (MECO) 使全球地表温度增加了 4 摄氏度，这与对 2100 年现代气候危机的预测相同。该项目的目标是产生多方面的模型将关联 MECO 范围内的生物变化模式，从而更多地了解与我们的热范围相似的变暖事件。这将通过将地层学和地球化学数据与生物地层学和生态形态学分析相结合来完成，以评估 MECO 事件之前、期间和之后犹他州尤因塔盆地的栖息地和哺乳动物群落结构的变化。为了实现项目目标，由沉积学家、地球化学家、孢粉学家和古生物学家组成的团队将使用他们的综合方法来评估生态系统如何应对极端变暖事件。这种综合方法的成功预计将改变我们对哺乳动物物种和栖息地对全球变暖事件反应的认识。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。