RAPID: Rare Opportunity to Study Ancient Crocodylian Social Dynamics in Extinct Ecosystem (18 mya) from At-Risk Fossil Site (Rusinga, Kenya)

RAPID：从濒临灭绝的化石遗址（肯尼亚鲁辛加）研究灭绝生态系统（18 mya）中古代鳄鱼社会动态的难得机会

• 批准号: 2333706
• 负责人: Alexander Hastings
• 金额: $ 3.72万
• 依托单位: Science Museum of Minnesota
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2024-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2333706&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Rare; Opportunity; Study; Ancient

Crocodilian social dynamics is a new area of study within modern ecosystems, and has not been studied in depth in the fossil record. An ideal site to test for differences in social aggression and cannibalistic consumption exists at a crocodilian-dominated fossil assemblage in Kenya. The site is currently at high risk of destruction due to an increased need for residential housing. Moreover, no one in the region (or in Kenya broadly), has the expertise, financial means, or availability to conduct this work. The team will carefully excavate and document these fossils, record and measure signs of interspecies aggression, and transport them to the National Museums of Kenya where they will be available to the global scientific community. The on-site team will include two specialists from the United States as well as workers from the local community. During the excavation, the team will also provide educational outreach to the community to help raise awareness of the value of these fossils to scientific learning.The goals of the project are to recover fossil specimens from the site, with all necessary stratigraphic and positional context. As each fossil is removed, the team will take photos that will be later used to make a 3D photogrammetric model. The project will also evaluate each bone for traces of interspecies aggression, recording size, depth and position. Gathering these data will improve our understanding of the pervasiveness of social aggression in this ancient community, the extent to which cannibalism played a role and how this may have affected the other members of the ecosystem. This study will be published in peer-reviewed literature and presented at scientific conferences in addition to being shared through outreach.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.

鳄鱼的社会动态是现代生态系统中的一个新研究领域，在化石记录中尚未得到深入研究。肯尼亚的一个以鳄鱼为主的化石群是测试社会攻击性和同类相食差异的理想地点。由于住宅需求的增加，该地点目前面临着很高的破坏风险。此外，该地区（或整个肯尼亚）没有人拥有开展这项工作的专业知识、财政手段或可用性。该团队将仔细挖掘和记录这些化石，记录和测量物种间侵略的迹象，并将它们运送到肯尼亚国家博物馆，在那里向全球科学界开放。现场团队将包括两名来自美国的专家以及来自当地社区的工作人员。在挖掘过程中，该团队还将向社区提供教育服务，以帮助提高人们对这些化石对科学学习的价值的认识。该项目的目标是从现场恢复化石标本，并提供所有必要的地层和位置背景。当每块化石被移除时，团队将拍摄照片，随后用于制作 3D 摄影测量模型。该项目还将评估每块骨头的种间攻击痕迹，记录大小、深度和位置。收集这些数据将提高我们对这个古老社区中普遍存在的社会攻击性、同类相食的程度以及这可能如何影响生态系统其他成员的理解。除了通过外展分享之外，这项研究还将在同行评审文献中发表，并在科学会议上展示。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。