Collaborative Research: BoCP-Implementation: Testing Evolutionary Models of Biotic Survival and Recovery from the Permo-Triassic Mass Extinction and Climate Crisis

合作研究：BoCP-实施：测试二叠纪-三叠纪大规模灭绝和气候危机中生物生存和恢复的进化模型

• 批准号: 2325381
• 负责人: Adam Huttenlocker
• 金额: $ 32.88万
• 依托单位: University of Southern California
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 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=2325381&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; BoCP; Implementation; Testing

The Permo-Triassic mass extinction (PTME, ca. 251.9 million years ago) was the most catastrophic of the “Big Five” mass extinctions in Earth’s history. Massive volcanic events likely triggered a runaway greenhouse, resulting in the loss of about 85-90% of species globally. Studies over the last 20 years agree that modern species loss rivals the PTME, making it a significant and underutilized “deep time” study system that connects environmental change to functional biodiversity. While past studies have focused on the external causes of the extinction, this research will investigate ecosystem recovery from the PTME in South Africa’s Karoo Basin. Awareness of which species and ecosystems were more vulnerable or resilient to climate warming in the past is essential to guide conservation management by predicting long-term biotic responses to future environmental change.This research will comprise a multidisciplinary geochronologic and paleontological study of South Africa’s main Karoo Basin. We will assemble a stratigraphic database of fossil vertebrate occurrences and investigate the timing of vertebrate extinction and recovery relative to the geologic timescale, and we will test whether pulsed shifts in ecological diversity correlate to distinct climate events (e.g., the Early Triassic hyperthermal). To achieve these goals, we will 1) Synthesize geochronologic age controls and identify the precise position of the Permo-Triassic boundary in the Karoo Basin; 2) Identify shifts in ecomorphological and body size disparity within a novel high resolution stratigraphic framework; 3) Elucidate the influence of higher-level factors such as community structure on vertebrate diversity during the Early Triassic climate crisis; 4) Emphasize public outreach through educational theater in local South African languages (Puppet Planet), capacity-building, permanent archiving of physical specimens and digital data for future study (Virtual Field Trips, museum exhibit upgrades), and strengthening international collaborations between the USA and South Africa. Our collaborative research and outreach initiatives will raise awareness of the impacts of extreme environmental instability on vertebrate functional diversity and size evolution over time, with great value not only for understanding the PTME, but also conservation efforts in our modern biodiversity crisis.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.

二叠纪-三叠纪大灭绝（PTME，约 2.519 亿年前）是地球历史上“五大”大灭绝中最具灾难性的一次，大规模火山事件可能引发了失控的温室效应，导致约 85-90 只动物灭绝。过去 20 年的研究一致认为，现代物种丧失可与 PTME 相媲美，使其成为一个重要且未得到充分利用的连接环境的“深度时间”研究系统。虽然过去的研究重点是灭绝的外部原因，但本研究将调查南非卡鲁盆地 PTME 的生态系统恢复情况，了解过去哪些物种和生态系统对气候变暖更脆弱或更适应。通过预测生物对未来环境变化的长期反应来指导保护管理至关重要。这项研究将包括对南非主要卡鲁盆地的多学科地质年代学和古生物学研究，我们将建立一个化石地层数据库。脊椎动物的发生并研究脊椎动物灭绝和恢复相对于地质时间尺度的时间，我们将测试生态多样性的脉冲变化是否与不同的气候事件相关（例如，早三叠世高温）为了实现这些目标，我们将1）。综合地质年代年龄控制并确定卡鲁盆地二叠纪-三叠纪边界的精确位置 2) 确定新型高分辨率内生态形态和体型差异的变化；地层框架；3）阐明早三叠世气候危机期间群落结构等更高层次的因素对脊椎动物多样性的影响；4）强调通过南非当地语言的教育戏剧（木偶星球）进行公众宣传、能力建设、永久存档物理标本和数字数据以供未来研究（虚拟实地考察、博物馆展览升级），以及加强美国和南非之间的国际合作，我们的合作研究和推广计划将提高人们对影响的认识。极端环境不稳定性对脊椎动物功能多样性和体型随时间演变的影响，不仅对于了解 PTME 具有重要价值，而且对于现代生物多样性危机中的保护工作也具有重要价值。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。