CAREER: Assessing the Connection Between Ecological and Environmental Collapse During the Pliensbachian-Toarcian Carbon-cycle Perturbation in Morocco

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

There are concerns about the declining health of ocean ecosystems today, and similar events in the past can provide information about how our current ecosystems might survive. One such event occurred during the Early Jurassic about 183 million years ago when reefs experienced major extinctions during periods of warm, low-oxygen, acidic oceans. This Early Jurassic event is recorded in great detail in the Moroccan High Atlas Mountains, and research there is establishing (1) when ecosystems disappeared; (2) which organisms survived (and which did not), and (3) what environmental changes led to ecosystem collapse. To share this work with the public, a board game is being designed to educate players about Jurassic reefs, evolution, and extinction in the face of extreme environmental change. This game is integrated into middle school, high school, and college-level educational modules; it can also be enjoyed by the general public and will be made available in multiple languages, thus enhancing science literacy, both locally and internationally. The primary research questions being addressed are: (1) When precisely does ecosystem collapse occur in the Early Jurassic and was it synchronous across ecosystem types (i.e., reefs versus level-bottom communities)? (2) What kill mechanism(s) (e.g., anoxia, acidification) caused biotic collapse and are they linked to large igneous province emplacement? (3) What were the timing and tempo of recovery for marine communities? These issues will be answered through field-based, interdisciplinary research in the Moroccan High Atlas. Quantitative paleoecological and sedimentological surveys are being combined with a suite of geochemical data (e.g., proxies for temperature, volcanism, and water oxygen levels) to understand the causes, timing, and consequences of biotic collapse in the Early Jurassic. This integrated, multi-disciplinary synthesis is informing paleontologists, ecologists, and climate scientists about the conditions that allowed certain ecosystems to survive a major global catastrophe. The educational efficacy of the board game is assessed through beta trials in local schools and universities with self-reported surveys of enjoyment and learning outcomes from both students and teachers. 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.