Collaborative Research: Wolf RACE (Resource Availability and Competition in Ecosystems) - Insights from The McKittrick and Rancho La Brea Lagerstatte

合作研究：Wolf RACE（生态系统中的资源可用性和竞争）- 来自 McKittrick 和 Rancho La Brea Lagerstatte 的见解

基本信息

批准号：
2138163
负责人：
Robin Trayler
金额：
$ 54.63万
依托单位：
University of California - Merced
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2022
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2022-08-01 至 2025-07-31
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2138163&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Collaborative Research Wolf RACE Resource

项目摘要

At the end of the last ice age, most of North America’s large mammals became extinct, including the iconic dire wolf. However, the smaller but physically similar grey wolf and coyote flourished. Today, grey wolves are threatened by human hunting and climate change and face the possibility of extinction themselves. The researchers will use the fossil record of the McKittrick and Rancho La Brea “tar pits” in southern California to investigate the biology of dire wolves and other canids. Comparisons within and among individual animals will indicate how these animals competed with one another, including members of their own species. This research will be complemented by studying modern grey wolf populations. Together, these data can inform and promote species survival today. This work will support a PhD student, two early career scientists, and undergraduate research experiences for students from historically minoritized backgrounds at a Hispanic Serving Institution. The researchers will also develop curriculum and learning modules to spread awareness of the McKittrick fossils and environmental challenges facing modern wolves. Most knowledge of North American Pleistocene carnivores is from the Rancho La Brea “tar pits” lagerstätte located in southern California. The McKittrick asphalt seep is similar in preservation and species richness, but represents an arid, inland setting with different floral and faunal abundances. Joint analysis of these systems provides a missing perspective of Pleistocene carnivore ecology, resource availability, and competition among species in adjacent ecosystems with different environmental conditions. The researchers will measure dietary patterns in dire wolves and coyotes to determine food web relationships using a suite of approaches: ecomorphology, tooth wear and fracture, stable isotope analysis, and geochronology. They will also probe modern wolf ecology at two sites: a landlocked population from Wood Buffalo Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada and a marine proximal population in Sweden. Together, the modern and fossil data provide models for understanding current and long-term challenges facing modern predator populations.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.

在上一个冰河时代末期，北美的大多数大型哺乳动物都灭绝了，其中包括标志性的恐狼，但体型较小但体型相似的灰狼和土狼却蓬勃发展，如今，灰狼受到人类捕猎和气候变化的威胁。研究人员将利用南加州麦基特里克和兰乔拉布雷亚“焦油坑”的化石记录来研究恐狼和其他犬科动物的生物学。个体动物内部和个体之间的比较将表明这些动物如何相互竞争，包括它们自己物种的成员，这些数据将通过研究现代灰狼种群来补充。研究人员还将开发课程和学习模块，以提高人们对麦基特里克化石和现代狼所面临的环境挑战的认识。知识北美更新世食肉动物来自位于加利福尼亚州南部的兰乔拉布雷亚“焦油坑”，麦基特里克沥青渗漏物在保存和物种丰富度方面相似，但代表了干旱的内陆环境，具有不同的花卉和动物丰度。这些系统提供了更新世食肉动物生态、资源可用性以及具有不同环境条件的邻近生态系统中物种之间竞争的缺失视角。研究人员将测量不同环境条件下的饮食模式。他们还将利用生态形态学、牙齿磨损和断裂、稳定同位素分析和地质年代学等一系列方法来确定恐狼和郊狼的食物网关系，他们还将在两个地点探索现代狼的生态学：阿尔伯塔省伍德布法罗省立公园的内陆种群。加拿大和瑞典的海洋近缘种群，现代和化石数据共同为了解现代捕食者种群当前和长期的挑战提供了模型。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并被认为值得支持。通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估。