NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Was there a Tropical Forest in North America after the end-Cretaceous Extinction?

美国国家科学基金会生物学博士后奖学金：白垩纪末期灭绝后北美是否存在热带森林？

• 批准号: 2305812
• 负责人: Gabriella Harris
• 金额: $ 24万
• 依托单位: Harris, Gabriella Rossetto
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-01-01 至 2026-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305812&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; Was

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2023, Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. The project will examine a 63.8 million year old fossil plant deposit from Castle Rock, Colorado, USA, which was previously identified as the first tropical rainforest after the last mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs. The Fellow will determine whether the Castle Rock flora should be classified as an actual tropical rainforest or a temperate forest by analyzing the plant lineages present and their reproductive methods. The research will advance scientific knowledge of how flowering plants evolved and forests recovered after the last mass extinction, leading to the emergence of the prominent plant families living today. Understanding the origins of modern rainforests is significant because comparable modern habitats are threatened by extinction due to present-day climate change and human impacts. This project will also broaden participation with the training of the Fellow to implement bilingual science communication and public outreach and mentor high school and undergraduate students of diverse backgrounds.The research will involve an in-depth study of well-preserved fossil leaves and reproductive remains from Castle Rock to determine the composition of the flora, its biogeographic and structural analogs, and fruit and seed dispersal strategies. The Fellow will analyze fossil leaf architecture and cuticles from extensive existing collections (n=~5000) at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science alongside comprehensive tropical collections at the Field Museum Herbarium to make taxonomic identifications. The distribution of nearest living relatives and extant rainforest reference plot data will be used to better determine what biogeographic region is the modern analog for the Castle Rock forest, i.e., living low-latitude Old World or Neotropical rainforests or warm-temperate rainforests more similar to those in East Asia and eastern North America. The morphology and dispersal types of fossil reproductive structures will be evaluated using CT scans and comparisons to modern rainforests and other fossil forests to assess plant adaptations. Training objectives will involve learning additional skills in angiosperm systematics, cuticle preparation, and reproductive morphology. The Fellow will also train and mentor other students from underrepresented groups in STEM. The results of the work will be shared with museum visitors, remotely to underserved schools, and globally with a bilingual YouTube video.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.

该行动为2023财年的生物学生物学研究金提供了一项NSF博士后研究奖学金，扩大了在生物学中代表不足的群体的参与。奖学金支持该研究员的研究和培训计划，这将增加生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。该项目将检查来自美国科罗拉多州城堡岩的6380万年历史的化石植物矿床，该矿床以前被确定为最后一次大规模灭绝杀死恐龙的热带雨林。该研究员将通过分析存在的植物谱系及其生殖方法来确定是否应将城堡岩菌群归为实际的热带雨林或温带森林。这项研究将进一步了解开花植物如何进化的科学知识和最后一次大规模灭绝后恢复的森林，从而导致今天居住的著名植物家庭的出现。了解现代雨林的起源是重要的，因为由于当今的气候变化和人类影响，可比的现代栖息地受到灭绝的威胁。该项目还将通过对同伴进行培训来扩大参与，以实施双语科学传播和公立宣传和高中和高中生，以及具有多样背景的本科生。该研究将涉及对保存完好的化石叶子的深入研究，并从Castle Rock中进行了良好的化石叶子和生殖残留物，以确定植物群的组成，生物地理位置学和结构类似类似物，其生物地理位置学和结构类似类似物和水果和种子和种子和种子的策略和差异策略。该研究员将在丹佛自然与科学博物馆的广泛现有收藏中分析化石叶建筑和角质层，并在田野博物馆植物博物馆的全面热带收藏中分析化石叶片建筑（N = 〜5000），以进行分类学识别。最近的生物亲戚和现存的雨林参考图的分布将用于更好地确定哪个生物地理区域是城堡岩石森林的现代类似物，即，生活中的低纬度旧世界或新热带雨林或温暖的雨林与东亚和北美东部的雨林更相似。化石生殖结构的形态和分散类型将使用CT扫描和现代雨林和其他化石森林进行比较来评估植物适应。培训目标将涉及学习血管系统学，表皮制备和生殖形态方面的其他技能。该研究员还将培训和指导来自STEM中代表性不足的团体的其他学生。这项工作的结果将与博物馆游客分享，远程向服务欠缺的学校，以及在全球范围内通过双语YouTube视频。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛影响的评估来评估的审查标准。