Comparative study of vase-shaped microfossils (VSMs) in collections at Harvard University and the University of California at Santa Barbara (Cambridge, MA; Santa Barbara, CA, USA)

• Grant number: 16/05937-9
• Support type: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): October 20, 2016
• Effective date (End): January 19, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences
• Principal Investigator: Thomas Rich Fairchild
• Grantee: Luana Pereira Costa de Morais Soares
• Supervisor abroad: Susannah M. Porter
• Home Institution: Instituto de Geociências (IGC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Local de pesquisa : University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 13/12852-1 - Taphonomy and systematics of Neoproterozoic vase shaped microfossils from Brazil and their paleoecological and phylogenetic significance, BP.DR

Abstract

The paleobiology of Proterozoic eukaryotic unicellular organisms is the subject of various lines of research seeking to understand the evolution and diversification of ecosystems prior to the appearance of metazoans. In this context, vase-shaped microfossils - (VSMs) are of primary importance because of their widespread occurrence in rocks as old as 760 Ma and their interpretation as tests of unicellular eukaryotic amoeboid microorganisms. Currently, these microfossils comprise the earliest fossil evidence of heterotrophy among unicellular eukaryotes. Thus, the study of this group is also of potential biostratigraphic importance for upper Neoproterozoic successions. Hence, the comparative study of specimens from a wide variety of locations and environmental contexts is essential in order to clarify taphonomic, taxonomic, paleobiologic (including evolutionary), and biostratigraphic questions regarding early testate amoebae. This proposal seeks a grant in order to visit the Paleobotanical Collection of Harvard University and the Paleobotanical Collection at the University of California in Santa Barbara in the USA, which house the most varied and important collections of Neoproterozoic VSMs in the world. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MORAIS, L.; LAHR, D. J. G.; RUDNITZKI, I. D.; FREITAS, B. T.; ROMERO, G. R.; PORTER, S. M.; KNOLL, A. H.; FAIRCHILD, T. R. Insights into vase-shaped microfossil diversity and Neoproterozoic biostratigraphy in light of recent Brazilian discoveries. JOURNAL OF PALEONTOLOGY, v. 93, n. 4, p. 612-627, JUL 2019. Web of Science Citations: 1.