1
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Boag TH, Busch JF, Gooley JT, Strauss JV, Sperling EA. Deep-water first occurrences of Ediacara biota prior to the Shuram carbon isotope excursion in the Wernecke Mountains, Yukon, Canada. GEOBIOLOGY 2024; 22:e12597. [PMID: 38700422 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12597] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2023] [Revised: 02/29/2024] [Accepted: 03/27/2024] [Indexed: 05/05/2024]
Abstract
Ediacara-type macrofossils appear as early as ~575 Ma in deep-water facies of the Drook Formation of the Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland, and the Nadaleen Formation of Yukon and Northwest Territories, Canada. Our ability to assess whether a deep-water origination of the Ediacara biota is a genuine reflection of evolutionary succession, an artifact of an incomplete stratigraphic record, or a bathymetrically controlled biotope is limited by a lack of geochronological constraints and detailed shelf-to-slope transects of Ediacaran continental margins. The Ediacaran Rackla Group of the Wernecke Mountains, NW Canada, represents an ideal shelf-to-slope depositional system to understand the spatiotemporal and environmental context of Ediacara-type organisms' stratigraphic occurrence. New sedimentological and paleontological data presented herein from the Wernecke Mountains establish a stratigraphic framework relating shelfal strata in the Goz/Corn Creek area to lower slope deposits in the Nadaleen River area. We report new discoveries of numerous Aspidella hold-fast discs, indicative of frondose Ediacara organisms, from deep-water slope deposits of the Nadaleen Formation stratigraphically below the Shuram carbon isotope excursion (CIE) in the Nadaleen River area. Such fossils are notably absent in coeval shallow-water strata in the Goz/Corn Creek region despite appropriate facies for potential preservation. The presence of pre-Shuram CIE Ediacara-type fossils occurring only in deep-water facies within a basin that has equivalent well-preserved shallow-water facies provides the first stratigraphic paleobiological support for a deep-water origination of the Ediacara biota. In contrast, new occurrences of Ediacara-type fossils (including juvenile fronds, Beltanelliformis, Aspidella, annulated tubes, and multiple ichnotaxa) are found above the Shuram CIE in both deep- and shallow-water deposits of the Blueflower Formation. Given existing age constraints on the Shuram CIE, it appears that Ediacaran organisms may have originated in the deeper ocean and lived there for up to ~15 million years before migrating into shelfal environments in the terminal Ediacaran. This indicates unique ecophysiological constraints likely shaped the initial habitat preference and later environmental expansion of the Ediacara biota.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas H Boag
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
| | - James F Busch
- Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
| | - Jared T Gooley
- Alaska Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Anchorage, Alaska, USA
| | - Justin V Strauss
- Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
| | - Erik A Sperling
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
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2
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Surprenant RL, Droser ML. New insight into the global record of the Ediacaran tubular morphotype: a common solution to early multicellularity. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2024; 11:231313. [PMID: 38511078 PMCID: PMC10951727 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.231313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2023] [Revised: 01/02/2024] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 03/22/2024]
Abstract
The tubular morphogroup is a common component of Earth's first complex, multicellular communities-the Ediacaran biota-and offers valuable insight into biological traits that are fundamental to animal life because they have intriguing links to metazoan phyla and are highly abundant in Ediacaran ecosystems. Biomineral tubes (e.g. Cloudina) are well described from the Nama assemblage (~550-538 Myr), yielding a relatively detailed understanding of this subset of the morphogroup. Conversely, the non-biomineral tubular taxa of the Nama assemblage, as well as of the older White Sea assemblage (~560-550 Myr), are poorly understood. As a result, the variability of characters that define non-biomineral tubular organisms is unknown and their diversity dynamics throughout the terminal Ediacaran are unconstrained. To test hypotheses related to the diversity, morphological variability and temporal distribution of non-biomineral tubes, a comprehensive database of non-biomineral Ediacaran tubular taxa was compiled. Results demonstrate previously unrecognized morphological disparity in the non-biomineral tubular morphogroup and reveal that it comprises a higher number of genera than all other non-tubular morphogroups in the White Sea and the Nama. Thus, it illustrates that a tubular form dominated Ediacaran ecosystems for considerably longer than previously appreciated and, importantly, was the most common solution to early multicellularity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel L. Surprenant
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA92521, USA
| | - Mary L. Droser
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA92521, USA
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3
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Zhao M, Mussini G, Li Y, Tang F, Vickers-Rich P, Li M, Chen A. A putative triradial macrofossil from the Ediacaran Jiangchuan Biota. iScience 2024; 27:108823. [PMID: 38303714 PMCID: PMC10831930 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.108823] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2023] [Revised: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 02/03/2024] Open
Abstract
The late Ediacaran Jiangchuan biota, from the Dengying Formation in eastern Yunnan, is well-known for its diverse macroalgal fossils, opening a window onto eukaryotic-dominated ecosystems from the late Neoproterozoic of South China. Although multiple lines of evidence suggest that metazoans had already evolved by the late Ediacaran, animal fossils have not yet been formally described from this locality. Here, we report a putative disc-shaped macrofossil from the Jiangchuan biota, Lobodiscus tribrachialis gen. et sp. nov. This specimen shows the triradial symmetry characteristic of trilobozoans, a group of Ediacaran macrofossils previously documented in Australia and Russia. Lobodiscus could record the youngest known occurrence of trilobozoans, strengthening taxonomic and ecological continuities between the Ediacaran "White Sea" and "Nama" assemblages. Our findings may expand the known paleogeographical distribution of trilobozoans and provide data for Ediacaran biostratigraphic correlations across the Yangtze block and globally, helping to track the diversification of early metazoan-grade organisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mingsheng Zhao
- College of Paleontology, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang 110034, China
| | - Giovanni Mussini
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK
| | - Yulan Li
- 111 Geological Brigade, Guizhou Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, Guiyang 550081, China
| | - Feng Tang
- Key Laboratory for Stratigraphy and Palaeontology, MNRC, Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China
| | - Patricia Vickers-Rich
- School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia
- Department of Chemistry, Chemistry and Resources precinct, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6845, Australia
| | - Ming Li
- Key Laboratory for Stratigraphy and Palaeontology, MNRC, Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China
| | - Ailin Chen
- Research Center of Paleobiology, Yuxi Normal University, Yuxi 653100, China
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4
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Mussini G, Dunn FS. Decline and fall of the Ediacarans: late-Neoproterozoic extinctions and the rise of the modern biosphere. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2024; 99:110-130. [PMID: 37667585 DOI: 10.1111/brv.13014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2023] [Revised: 08/22/2023] [Accepted: 08/25/2023] [Indexed: 09/06/2023]
Abstract
The end-Neoproterozoic transition marked a gradual but permanent shift between distinct configurations of Earth's biosphere. This interval witnessed the demise of the enigmatic Ediacaran Biota, ushering in the structured trophic webs and disparate animal body plans of Phanerozoic ecosystems. However, little consensus exists on the reality, drivers, and macroevolutionary implications of end-Neoproterozoic extinctions. Here we evaluate potential drivers of late-Neoproterozoic turnover by addressing recent findings on Ediacaran geochronology, the persistence of classical Ediacaran macrobionts into the Cambrian, and the existence of Ediacaran crown-group eumetazoans. Despite renewed interest in the possibility of Phanerozoic-style 'mass extinctions' in the latest Neoproterozoic, our synthesis of the available evidence does not support extinction models based on episodic geochemical triggers, nor does it validate simple ecological interpretations centred on direct competitive displacement. Instead, we argue that the protracted and indirect effects of early bilaterian innovations, including escalations in sediment engineering, predation, and the largely understudied impacts of reef-building, may best account for the temporal structure and possible selectivity of late-Neoproterozoic extinctions. We integrate these processes into a generalised model of early eumetazoan-dominated ecologies, charting the disruption of spatial and temporal isotropy on the Ediacaran benthos as a consequence of diversifying macrofaunal interactions. Given the nature of resource distribution in Ediacaran ecologies, the continuities among Ediacaran and Cambrian faunas, and the convergent origins of ecologically disruptive innovations among bilaterians we suggest that the rise of Phanerozoic-type biotas may have been unstoppable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni Mussini
- Department of Earth Sciences, Downing Street, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, UK
| | - Frances S Dunn
- Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Parks Road, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3PW, UK
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5
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Meek DM, Buatois LA, Mángano MG, Eglington BM. Increased habitat segregation at the dawn of the Phanerozoic revealed by correspondence analysis of bioturbation. Sci Rep 2023; 13:22328. [PMID: 38102199 PMCID: PMC10724277 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-49716-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2023] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023] Open
Abstract
The Agronomic Revolution of the early Cambrian refers to the most significant re-structuration of the benthic marine ecosystem in life history. Using a global compilation of trace-fossil records across the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition, this paper investigates the relationship between the benthos and depositional environments prior to, during, and after the Agronomic Revolution to shed light on habitat segregation via correspondence analysis. The results of this analysis characterize Ediacaran mobile benthic bilaterians as facies-crossing and opportunistic, with low levels of habitat specialization. In contrast, the Terreneuvian and Cambrian Series 2 reveal progressive habitat segregation, parallel to matground environmental restriction. This event was conducive to the establishment of distinct endobenthic communities along the marine depositional profile, showing that the increase in styles of animal-substrate interactions was expressed by both alpha and beta ichnodiversity. Habitat segregation at the dawn of the Phanerozoic may illustrate an early extension of the trophic group amensalism at community scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dean M Meek
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E2, Canada.
| | - Luis A Buatois
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E2, Canada
| | - M Gabriela Mángano
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E2, Canada
| | - Bruce M Eglington
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E2, Canada
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6
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Gibson BM, Schiffbauer JD, Wallace AF, Darroch SAF. The role of iron in the formation of Ediacaran 'death masks'. GEOBIOLOGY 2023; 21:421-434. [PMID: 36843397 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2022] [Revised: 01/30/2023] [Accepted: 02/12/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The Ediacara biota are an enigmatic group of Neoproterozoic soft-bodied fossils that mark the first major radiation of complex eukaryotic and macroscopic life. These fossils are thought to have been preserved via pyritic "death masks" mediated by seafloor microbial mats, though little about the chemical constraints of this preservational pathway is known, in particular surrounding the role of bioavailable iron in death mask formation and preservational fidelity. In this study, we perform decay experiments on both diploblastic and triploblastic animals under a range of simulated sedimentary iron concentrations, in order to characterize the role of iron in the preservation of Ediacaran organisms. After 28 days of decay, we demonstrate the first convincing "death masks" produced under experimental laboratory conditions composed of iron sulfide and probable oxide veneers. Moreover, our results demonstrate that the abundance of iron in experiments is not the sole control on death mask formation, but also tissue histology and the availability of nucleation sites. This illustrates that Ediacaran preservation via microbial death masks need not be a "perfect storm" of paleoenvironmental porewater and sediment chemistry, but instead can occur under a range of conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brandt M Gibson
- Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - James D Schiffbauer
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA
- X-ray Microanalysis Core Facility, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA
| | - Adam F Wallace
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA
| | - Simon A F Darroch
- Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
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7
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Goulty M, Botton-Amiot G, Rosato E, Sprecher SG, Feuda R. The monoaminergic system is a bilaterian innovation. Nat Commun 2023; 14:3284. [PMID: 37280201 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39030-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2022] [Accepted: 05/25/2023] [Indexed: 06/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Monoamines like serotonin, dopamine, and adrenaline/noradrenaline (epinephrine/norepinephrine) act as neuromodulators in the nervous system. They play a role in complex behaviours, cognitive functions such as learning and memory formation, as well as fundamental homeostatic processes such as sleep and feeding. However, the evolutionary origin of the genes required for monoaminergic modulation is uncertain. Using a phylogenomic approach, in this study, we show that most of the genes involved in monoamine production, modulation, and reception originated in the bilaterian stem group. This suggests that the monoaminergic system is a bilaterian novelty and that its evolution may have contributed to the Cambrian diversification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew Goulty
- Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester, Leicestershire, UK
| | - Gaelle Botton-Amiot
- Department of Biology, Institute of Zoology, University of Fribourg, CH-1700, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Ezio Rosato
- Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester, Leicestershire, UK
| | - Simon G Sprecher
- Department of Biology, Institute of Zoology, University of Fribourg, CH-1700, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Roberto Feuda
- Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester, Leicestershire, UK.
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8
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Dodd MS, Shi W, Li C, Zhang Z, Cheng M, Gu H, Hardisty DS, Loyd SJ, Wallace MW, vS Hood A, Lamothe K, Mills BJW, Poulton SW, Lyons TW. Uncovering the Ediacaran phosphorus cycle. Nature 2023:10.1038/s41586-023-06077-6. [PMID: 37258677 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06077-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/12/2023] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
Phosphorus is a limiting nutrient that is thought to control oceanic oxygen levels to a large extent1-3. A possible increase in marine phosphorus concentrations during the Ediacaran Period (about 635-539 million years ago) has been proposed as a driver for increasing oxygen levels4-6. However, little is known about the nature and evolution of phosphorus cycling during this time4. Here we use carbonate-associated phosphate (CAP) from six globally distributed sections to reconstruct oceanic phosphorus concentrations during a large negative carbon-isotope excursion-the Shuram excursion (SE)-which co-occurred with global oceanic oxygenation7-9. Our data suggest pulsed increases in oceanic phosphorus concentrations during the falling and rising limbs of the SE. Using a quantitative biogeochemical model, we propose that this observation could be explained by carbon dioxide and phosphorus release from marine organic-matter oxidation primarily by sulfate, with further phosphorus release from carbon-dioxide-driven weathering on land. Collectively, this may have resulted in elevated organic-pyrite burial and ocean oxygenation. Our CAP data also seem to suggest equivalent oceanic phosphorus concentrations under maximum and minimum extents of ocean anoxia across the SE. This observation may reflect decoupled phosphorus and ocean anoxia cycles, as opposed to their coupled nature in the modern ocean. Our findings point to external stimuli such as sulfate weathering rather than internal oceanic phosphorus-oxygen cycling alone as a possible control on oceanic oxygenation in the Ediacaran. In turn, this may help explain the prolonged rise of atmospheric oxygen levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew S Dodd
- State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Institute of Sedimentary Geology, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, China
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China
- International Center for Sedimentary Geochemistry and Biogeochemistry Research, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, China
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- Forrest Research Foundation, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Wei Shi
- State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Institute of Sedimentary Geology, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, China
- International Center for Sedimentary Geochemistry and Biogeochemistry Research, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, China
| | - Chao Li
- State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Institute of Sedimentary Geology, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, China.
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China.
- International Center for Sedimentary Geochemistry and Biogeochemistry Research, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, China.
| | - Zihu Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Institute of Sedimentary Geology, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, China
- International Center for Sedimentary Geochemistry and Biogeochemistry Research, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, China
| | - Meng Cheng
- State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Institute of Sedimentary Geology, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, China
- International Center for Sedimentary Geochemistry and Biogeochemistry Research, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, China
| | - Haodong Gu
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China
| | - Dalton S Hardisty
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Sean J Loyd
- Department of Geological Sciences, California State University, Fullerton, CA, USA
| | - Malcolm W Wallace
- School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Ashleigh vS Hood
- School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Kelsey Lamothe
- School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | | | - Simon W Poulton
- School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Timothy W Lyons
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA
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9
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A diverse Ediacara assemblage survived under low-oxygen conditions. Nat Commun 2022; 13:7306. [PMID: 36435820 PMCID: PMC9701187 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-35012-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2022] [Accepted: 11/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The Ediacaran biota were soft-bodied organisms, many with enigmatic phylogenetic placement and ecology, living in marine environments between 574 and 539 million years ago. Some studies hypothesize a metazoan affinity and aerobic metabolism for these taxa, whereas others propose a fundamentally separate taxonomic grouping and a reliance on chemoautotrophy. To distinguish between these hypotheses and test the redox-sensitivity of Ediacaran organisms, here we present a high-resolution local and global redox dataset from carbonates that contain in situ Ediacaran fossils from Siberia. Cerium anomalies are consistently >1, indicating that local environments, where a diverse Ediacaran assemblage is preserved in situ as nodules and carbonaceous compressions, were pervasively anoxic. Additionally, δ238U values match other terminal Ediacaran sections, indicating widespread marine euxinia. These data suggest that some Ediacaran biotas were tolerant of at least intermittent anoxia, and thus had the capacity for a facultatively anaerobic lifestyle. Alternatively, these soft-bodied Ediacara organisms may have colonized the seafloor during brief oxygenation events not recorded by redox proxy data. Broad temporal correlations between carbon, sulfur, and uranium isotopes further highlight the dynamic redox landscape of Ediacaran-Cambrian evolutionary events.
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10
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Abstract
Earth's long-term climate has been profoundly influenced by the episodic assembly and breakup of supercontinents at intervals of ca. 500 m.y. This reflects the cycle's impact on global sea level and atmospheric CO2 (and other greenhouse gases), the levels of which have fluctuated in response to variations in input from volcanism and removal (as carbonate) by the chemical weathering of silicate minerals. Supercontinent amalgamation tends to coincide with climatic cooling due to drawdown of atmospheric CO2 through enhanced weathering of the orogens of supercontinent assembly and a thermally uplifted supercontinent. Conversely, breakup tends to coincide with increased atmospheric CO2 and global warming as the dispersing continental fragments cool and subside, and weathering decreases as sea level rises. Supercontinents may also influence global climate through their causal connection to mantle plumes and large igneous provinces (LIPs) linked to their breakup. LIPs may amplify the warming trend of breakup by releasing greenhouse gases or may cause cooling and glaciation through sulfate aerosol release and drawdown of CO2 through the chemical weathering of LIP basalts. Hence, Earth's long-term climatic trends likely reflect the cycle's influence on sea level, as evidenced by Pangea, whereas its influence on LIP volcanism may have orchestrated between Earth's various climatic states.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Damian Nance
- Department of Geological Sciences, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA
- Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Charles University, Prague 2, Czech Republic
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11
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Assessing the expansion of the Cambrian Agronomic Revolution into fan-delta environments. Sci Rep 2022; 12:14431. [PMID: 36002516 PMCID: PMC9402710 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-18199-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2022] [Accepted: 08/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The intensity, extent, and ecosystem-level impact of bioturbation (i.e. Agronomic Revolution) at the dawn of the Phanerozoic is a hotly debated issue. Middle Cambrian fan-delta deposits in southwestern Saskatchewan provide insights into the paleoenvironmental extent of the Agronomic Revolution into marginal-marine environments. The studied deposits reveal that several environmental stressors had direct impact on trace-fossil distribution and bioturbation intensities in Cambrian fan deltas. Basal and proximal subaerial deposits are characterized by very coarse grain size and absence of bioturbation. Mid-fan and fan-toe deposits were formed under subaqueous conditions and are characterized by rapid bioturbation events in between sedimentation episodes when environmental stressors were ameliorated, providing evidence of a significant landward expansion of the Agronomic Revolution. Transgressive marine deposits accumulated after the abandonment of the fan-delta system display high levels of bioturbation intensity, reflecting stable environmental conditions that favored endobenthic colonization. The presence of intense bioturbation in both subaqueous fan delta and transgressive deposits provides further support to the view that Cambrian levels of biogenic mixing were high, provided that stable environmental conditions were reached. Our study underscores the importance of evaluating sedimentary facies changes to assess the impact of environmental factors prior to making evolutionary inferences.
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12
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Eden R, Manica A, Mitchell EG. Metacommunity analyses show an increase in ecological specialisation throughout the Ediacaran period. PLoS Biol 2022; 20:e3001289. [PMID: 35580078 PMCID: PMC9113585 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2021] [Accepted: 03/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The first animals appear during the late Ediacaran (572 to 541 Ma); an initial diversity increase was followed reduction in diversity, often interpreted as catastrophic mass extinction. We investigate Ediacaran ecosystem structure changes over this time period using the “Elements of Metacommunity Structure” framework to assess whether this diversity reduction in the Nama was likely caused by an external mass extinction, or internal metacommunity restructuring. The oldest metacommunity was characterised by taxa with wide environmental tolerances, and limited specialisation or intertaxa associations. Structuring increased in the second oldest metacommunity, with groups of taxa sharing synchronous responses to environmental gradients, aggregating into distinct communities. This pattern strengthened in the youngest metacommunity, with communities showing strong environmental segregation and depth structure. Thus, metacommunity structure increased in complexity, with increased specialisation and resulting in competitive exclusion, not a catastrophic environmental disaster, leading to diversity loss in the terminal Ediacaran. These results reveal that the complex eco-evolutionary dynamics associated with Cambrian diversification were established in the Ediacaran. This study shows that the eco-evolutionary dynamics of metazoan diversification known from the Cambrian Period started earlier in the Ediacaran Period with the Avalon assemblage and increased in complexity towards the Phanerozoic as new anatomical innovations appeared, culminating in the “Cambrian Explosion."
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca Eden
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Andrea Manica
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Emily G. Mitchell
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
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13
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Chang B, Li C, Algeo TJ, Lyons TW, Shi W, Cheng M, Luo G, She Z, Xie S, Tong J, Zhu M, Huang J, Foster I, Tripati A. A ∼60-Ma-long, high-resolution record of Ediacaran paleotemperature. Sci Bull (Beijing) 2022; 67:910-913. [PMID: 36546024 DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2022.01.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2021] [Revised: 12/14/2021] [Accepted: 12/15/2021] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Biao Chang
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Science, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China; State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
| | - Chao Li
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Science, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China.
| | - Thomas J Algeo
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Science, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China; State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China; Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0013, USA
| | - Timothy W Lyons
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Wei Shi
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Science, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
| | - Meng Cheng
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Science, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
| | - Genming Luo
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Science, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
| | - Zhenbing She
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Science, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
| | - Shucheng Xie
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Science, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
| | - Jinnan Tong
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Science, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
| | - Maoyan Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology & Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Junhua Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China.
| | - Ian Foster
- UMR6538 Géosciences Océan, Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Technopôle Brest-Iroise, Plouzané 29280, France
| | - Aradhna Tripati
- UMR6538 Géosciences Océan, Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Technopôle Brest-Iroise, Plouzané 29280, France; Department of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
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14
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Kraft P, Mergl M. Struggle for phosphorus and the Devonian overturn. Trends Ecol Evol 2022; 37:645-654. [PMID: 35469704 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2022.03.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2021] [Revised: 03/15/2022] [Accepted: 03/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Organisms with external phosphatic shells diversified and became abundant at the beginning of the Early Paleozoic but gradually declined and were rare by its end. The decreasing availability of phosphorus in oceans is thought to be responsible for this evolutionary trend. Responses of organisms to changes in the phosphorus cycle can be traced to the late Neoproterozoic, and likely had a significant role in the Cambrian explosion, the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE), and the Devonian nekton revolution. Effective use of phosphorus by vertebrates during the Devonian nekton revolution caused the phosphorus pool to shift from benthic external shells to the skeletons of pelagic vertebrates, and moved the marine faunas toward the dominance patterns and ecological structure of the Modern Evolutionary Fauna.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petr Kraft
- Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Albertov 6, 128 43 Praha 2, Czech Republic.
| | - Michal Mergl
- Centre of Biology, Geosciences and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Education, University of West Bohemia in Plzeň, Klatovská 51, 306 19 Plzeň, Czech Republic
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15
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Yang C, Rooney AD, Condon DJ, Li XH, Grazhdankin DV, Bowyer FT, Hu C, Macdonald FA, Zhu M. The tempo of Ediacaran evolution. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:eabi9643. [PMID: 34731004 PMCID: PMC8565906 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abi9643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2021] [Accepted: 09/15/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The rise of complex macroscopic life occurred during the Ediacaran Period, an interval that witnessed large-scale disturbances to biogeochemical systems. The current Ediacaran chronostratigraphic framework is of insufficient resolution to provide robust global correlation schemes or test hypotheses for the role of biogeochemical cycling in the evolution of complex life. Here, we present new radio-isotopic dates from Ediacaran strata that directly constrain key fossil assemblages and large-magnitude carbon cycle perturbations. These new dates and integrated global correlations demonstrate that late Ediacaran strata of South China are time transgressive and that the 575- to 550-Ma interval is marked by two large negative carbon isotope excursions: the Shuram and a younger one that ended ca. 550 Ma ago. These data calibrate the tempo of Ediacaran evolution characterized by intervals of tens of millions of years of increasing ecosystem complexity, interrupted by biological turnovers that coincide with large perturbations to the carbon cycle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chuan Yang
- Geochronology and Tracers Facility, British Geological Survey, Keyworth NG12 5GG, UK
| | - Alan D. Rooney
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Daniel J. Condon
- Geochronology and Tracers Facility, British Geological Survey, Keyworth NG12 5GG, UK
| | - Xian-Hua Li
- State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
- College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Dmitriy V. Grazhdankin
- Precambrian Palaeontology and Stratigraphy Laboratory, Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics, prospect Akademika Koptyuga 3, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
- Novosibirsk State University, ulitsa Pirogova 1, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
| | - Fred T. Bowyer
- School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Chunlin Hu
- College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy & Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Francis A. Macdonald
- Department of Earth Science, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
| | - Maoyan Zhu
- College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy & Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
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16
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Lyons TW, Diamond CW, Planavsky NJ, Reinhard CT, Li C. Oxygenation, Life, and the Planetary System during Earth's Middle History: An Overview. ASTROBIOLOGY 2021; 21:906-923. [PMID: 34314605 PMCID: PMC8403206 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2020.2418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
The long history of life on Earth has unfolded as a cause-and-effect relationship with the evolving amount of oxygen (O2) in the oceans and atmosphere. Oxygen deficiency characterized our planet's first 2 billion years, yet evidence for biological O2 production and local enrichments in the surface ocean appear long before the first accumulations of O2 in the atmosphere roughly 2.4 to 2.3 billion years ago. Much has been written about this fundamental transition and the related balance between biological O2 production and sinks coupled to deep Earth processes that could buffer against the accumulation of biogenic O2. However, the relationship between complex life (eukaryotes, including animals) and later oxygenation is less clear. Some data suggest O2 was higher but still mostly low for another billion and a half years before increasing again around 800 million years ago, potentially setting a challenging course for complex life during its initial development and ecological expansion. The apparent rise in O2 around 800 million years ago is coincident with major developments in complex life. Multiple geochemical and paleontological records point to a major biogeochemical transition at that time, but whether rising and still dynamic biospheric oxygen triggered or merely followed from innovations in eukaryotic ecology, including the emergence of animals, is still debated. This paper focuses on the geochemical records of Earth's middle history, roughly 1.8 to 0.5 billion years ago, as a backdrop for exploring possible cause-and-effect relationships with biological evolution and the primary controls that may have set its pace, including solid Earth/tectonic processes, nutrient limitation, and their possible linkages. A richer mechanistic understanding of the interplay between coevolving life and Earth surface environments can provide a template for understanding and remotely searching for sustained habitability and even life on distant exoplanets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy W. Lyons
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
- Address correspondence to: Timothy W. Lyons, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Charles W. Diamond
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
| | - Noah J. Planavsky
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Christopher T. Reinhard
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Chao Li
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China
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17
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Cracknell K, García-Bellido DC, Gehling JG, Ankor MJ, Darroch SAF, Rahman IA. Pentaradial eukaryote suggests expansion of suspension feeding in White Sea-aged Ediacaran communities. Sci Rep 2021; 11:4121. [PMID: 33602958 PMCID: PMC7893023 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-83452-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2020] [Accepted: 02/03/2021] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Suspension feeding is a key ecological strategy in modern oceans that provides a link between pelagic and benthic systems. Establishing when suspension feeding first became widespread is thus a crucial research area in ecology and evolution, with implications for understanding the origins of the modern marine biosphere. Here, we use three-dimensional modelling and computational fluid dynamics to establish the feeding mode of the enigmatic Ediacaran pentaradial eukaryote Arkarua. Through comparisons with two Cambrian echinoderms, Cambraster and Stromatocystites, we show that flow patterns around Arkarua strongly support its interpretation as a passive suspension feeder. Arkarua is added to the growing number of Ediacaran benthic suspension feeders, suggesting that the energy link between pelagic and benthic ecosystems was likely expanding in the White Sea assemblage (~ 558-550 Ma). The advent of widespread suspension feeding could therefore have played an important role in the subsequent waves of ecological innovation and escalation that culminated with the Cambrian explosion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelsie Cracknell
- grid.5337.20000 0004 1936 7603School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queens Road, Bristol, BS8 1RJ UK
| | - Diego C. García-Bellido
- grid.1010.00000 0004 1936 7304School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, North Terrace Campus, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Australia ,grid.437963.c0000 0001 1349 5098South Australian Museum, Adelaide, South Australia 5000 Australia
| | - James G. Gehling
- grid.437963.c0000 0001 1349 5098South Australian Museum, Adelaide, South Australia 5000 Australia
| | - Martin J. Ankor
- grid.1010.00000 0004 1936 7304Department of Earth Sciences and Sprigg Geobiology Centre, University of Adelaide, North Terrace Campus, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Australia
| | - Simon A. F. Darroch
- grid.152326.10000 0001 2264 7217Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235-1805 USA ,grid.462628.c0000 0001 2184 5457Senckenberg Museum of Natural History, 60325 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Imran A. Rahman
- grid.440504.10000 0000 8693 4250Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Oxford, OX1 3PW UK
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18
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Chang Y, Rochon D, Sekimoto S, Wang Y, Chovatia M, Sandor L, Salamov A, Grigoriev IV, Stajich JE, Spatafora JW. Genome-scale phylogenetic analyses confirm Olpidium as the closest living zoosporic fungus to the non-flagellated, terrestrial fungi. Sci Rep 2021; 11:3217. [PMID: 33547391 PMCID: PMC7865070 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-82607-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2020] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The zoosporic obligate endoparasites, Olpidium, hold a pivotal position to the reconstruction of the flagellum loss in fungi, one of the key morphological transitions associated with the colonization of land by the early fungi. We generated genome and transcriptome data from non-axenic zoospores of Olpidium bornovanus and used a metagenome approach to extract phylogenetically informative fungal markers. Our phylogenetic reconstruction strongly supported Olpidium as the closest zoosporic relative of the non-flagellated terrestrial fungi. Super-alignment analyses resolved Olpidium as sister to the non-flagellated terrestrial fungi, whereas a super-tree approach recovered different placements of Olpidium, but without strong support. Further investigations detected little conflicting signal among the sampled markers but revealed a potential polytomy in early fungal evolution associated with the branching order among Olpidium, Zoopagomycota and Mucoromycota. The branches defining the evolutionary relationships of these lineages were characterized by short branch lengths and low phylogenetic content and received equivocal support for alternative phylogenetic hypotheses from individual markers. These nodes were marked by important morphological innovations, including the transition to hyphal growth and the loss of flagellum, which enabled early fungi to explore new niches and resulted in rapid and temporally concurrent Precambrian diversifications of the ancestors of several phyla of fungi.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ying Chang
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, College of Agricultural Sciences, Oregon State University, Oregon, USA.
| | - D'Ann Rochon
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre, Summerland, BC, Canada
| | - Satoshi Sekimoto
- Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Research and Development Center, Mitsubishi-Chemical Foods Corporation, Yokohama, Japan
| | - Yan Wang
- Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA
- Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Canada
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Mansi Chovatia
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Laura Sandor
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Asaf Salamov
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Igor V Grigoriev
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Jason E Stajich
- Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA
- Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA
| | - Joseph W Spatafora
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, College of Agricultural Sciences, Oregon State University, Oregon, USA
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19
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Becker-Kerber B, de Barros GEB, Paim PSG, Prado GMEM, da Rosa ALZ, El Albani A, Laflamme M. In situ filamentous communities from the Ediacaran (approx. 563 Ma) of Brazil. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20202618. [PMID: 33402067 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.2618] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Precambrian filamentous microfossils are common and diverse. Nevertheless, their taxonomic assignment can be difficult owing to their overall simple shapes typically lacking in diagnostic features. Here, we report in situ communities of well-preserved, large filamentous impressions from the Ediacaran Itajaí Basin (ca 563 Ma) of Brazil. The filaments are uniserial (unbranched) and can reach up to 200 µm in width and up to 44 mm in length. They occur as both densely packed or sparsely populated surfaces, and typically show a consistent orientation. Although simple in shape, their preferred orientation suggests they were tethered to the seafloor, and their overall flexibility (e.g. bent, folded and twisted) supports a biological (rather than sedimentary) affinity. Biometric comparisons with modern filamentous groups further support their biological affinity, suggesting links with either large sulfide-oxidizing bacteria (SOB) or eukaryotes. Other morphological and palaeoecological characteristics further corroborates their similarities with modern large filamentous SOB. Their widespread occurrence and association with complex Ediacaran macrobiota (e.g. frondose organisms, Palaeopascichnus) suggest that they probably played an important role in the ecological dynamics of these early benthic communities by providing firm substrates for metazoans to inhabit. It is further hypothesized that the dynamic redox condition in the latest Ediacaran, with the non-continuous rise in oxygen concentration and periods of hypoxia, may have created ideal conditions for SOB to thrive.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruno Becker-Kerber
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Recursos Naturais, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Washington Luiz, 325 km, São Carlos (SP) 13565-905, Brazil.,Unité Mixte de Recherche (UMR), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), IC2MP 7285, University of Poitiers, 86073 Poitiers, France
| | - Gabriel Eduardo Baréa de Barros
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Comparada, Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP), Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Avenue Bandeirantes, 3900-Vila Monte Alegre, 14049-900, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Paulo Sergio Gomes Paim
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geologia, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, 93.022-750, São Leopoldo (RS), Brazil
| | - Gustavo M E M Prado
- Programa de Pós Graduação em Geoquímica e Geotectônica, Instituto de Geociências, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Avenue Bandeirantes, 3900-Vila Monte Alegre, 14049-900, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | - Abderrazak El Albani
- Unité Mixte de Recherche (UMR), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), IC2MP 7285, University of Poitiers, 86073 Poitiers, France
| | - Marc Laflamme
- Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5 L 1C6
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20
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Gibson BM, Furbish DJ, Rahman IA, Schmeeckle MW, Laflamme M, Darroch SAF. Ancient life and moving fluids. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2020; 96:129-152. [PMID: 32959981 PMCID: PMC7821342 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12649] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2020] [Revised: 08/21/2020] [Accepted: 08/25/2020] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Over 3.7 billion years of Earth history, life has evolved complex adaptations to help navigate and interact with the fluid environment. Consequently, fluid dynamics has become a powerful tool for studying ancient fossils, providing insights into the palaeobiology and palaeoecology of extinct organisms from across the tree of life. In recent years, this approach has been extended to the Ediacara biota, an enigmatic assemblage of Neoproterozoic soft‐bodied organisms that represent the first major radiation of macroscopic eukaryotes. Reconstructing the ways in which Ediacaran organisms interacted with the fluids provides new insights into how these organisms fed, moved, and interacted within communities. Here, we provide an in‐depth review of fluid physics aimed at palaeobiologists, in which we dispel misconceptions related to the Reynolds number and associated flow conditions, and specify the governing equations of fluid dynamics. We then review recent advances in Ediacaran palaeobiology resulting from the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). We provide a worked example and account of best practice in CFD analyses of fossils, including the first large eddy simulation (LES) experiment performed on extinct organisms. Lastly, we identify key questions, barriers, and emerging techniques in fluid dynamics, which will not only allow us to understand the earliest animal ecosystems better, but will also help to develop new palaeobiological tools for studying ancient life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brandt M Gibson
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Vanderbilt University, PMB 351805, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN, 37235-1805, U.S.A
| | - David J Furbish
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Vanderbilt University, PMB 351805, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN, 37235-1805, U.S.A
| | - Imran A Rahman
- Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PW, U.K
| | - Mark W Schmeeckle
- School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85281, U.S.A
| | - Marc Laflamme
- Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3356 Mississauga Rd North, Mississauga, Ontario, L5L 1C6, Canada
| | - Simon A F Darroch
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Vanderbilt University, PMB 351805, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN, 37235-1805, U.S.A
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21
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Buatois LA, Mángano MG, Minter NJ, Zhou K, Wisshak M, Wilson MA, Olea RA. Quantifying ecospace utilization and ecosystem engineering during the early Phanerozoic-The role of bioturbation and bioerosion. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:eabb0618. [PMID: 32851171 PMCID: PMC7428343 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abb0618] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2020] [Accepted: 07/02/2020] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
The Cambrian explosion (CE) and the great Ordovician biodiversification event (GOBE) are the two most important radiations in Paleozoic oceans. We quantify the role of bioturbation and bioerosion in ecospace utilization and ecosystem engineering using information from 1367 stratigraphic units. An increase in all diversity metrics is demonstrated for the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition, followed by a decrease in most values during the middle to late Cambrian, and by a more modest increase during the Ordovician. A marked increase in ichnodiversity and ichnodisparity of bioturbation is shown during the CE and of bioerosion during the GOBE. Innovations took place first in offshore settings and later expanded into marginal-marine, nearshore, deep-water, and carbonate environments. This study highlights the importance of the CE, despite its Ediacaran roots. Differences in infaunalization in offshore and shelf paleoenvironments favor the hypothesis of early Cambrian wedge-shaped oxygen minimum zones instead of a horizontally stratified ocean.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis A. Buatois
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 114 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E2, Canada
- Corresponding author.
| | - M. Gabriela Mángano
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 114 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E2, Canada
| | - Nicholas J. Minter
- School of the Environment, Geography and Geosciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO1 3QL, UK
| | - Kai Zhou
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 114 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E2, Canada
| | - Max Wisshak
- Marine Research Department, Senckenberg am Meer, Südstrand 40, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany
| | - Mark A. Wilson
- Department of Earth Sciences, The College of Wooster, Wooster, OH 44691, USA
| | - Ricardo A. Olea
- Eastern Energy Resources, United States Geological Survey, 12201 Sunrise Valley Dr., Reston, VA 20192, USA
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22
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Abstract
The rise of animals occurred during an interval of Earth history that witnessed dynamic marine redox conditions, potentially rapid plate motions, and uniquely large perturbations to global biogeochemical cycles. The largest of these perturbations, the Shuram carbon isotope excursion, has been invoked as a driving mechanism for Ediacaran environmental change, possibly linked with evolutionary innovation or extinction. However, there are a number of controversies surrounding the Shuram, including its timing, duration, and role in the concomitant biological and biogeochemical upheavals. Here we present radioisotopic dates bracketing the Shuram on two separate paleocontinents; our results are consistent with a global and synchronous event between 574.0 ± 4.7 and 567.3 ± 3.0 Ma. These dates support the interpretation that the Shuram is a primary and synchronous event postdating the Gaskiers glaciation. In addition, our Re-Os ages suggest that the appearance of Ediacaran macrofossils in northwestern Canada is identical, within uncertainty, to similar macrofossils from the Conception Group of Newfoundland, highlighting the coeval appearance of macroscopic metazoans across two paleocontinents. Our temporal framework for the terminal Proterozoic is a critical step for testing hypotheses related to extreme carbon isotope excursions and their role in the evolution of complex life.
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23
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Mángano MG, Buatois LA. The rise and early evolution of animals: where do we stand from a trace-fossil perspective? Interface Focus 2020; 10:20190103. [PMID: 32642049 DOI: 10.1098/rsfs.2019.0103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/15/2020] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The trace-fossil record provides a wealth of information to track the rise and early evolution of animals. It comprises the activity of both hard- and soft-bodied organisms, is continuous through the Ediacaran (635-539 Ma)- Cambrian (539-485 Ma) transition, yields insights into animal behaviour and their role as ecosystem engineers, and allows for a more refined characterization of palaeoenvironmental context. In order to unravel macroevolutionary signals from the trace-fossil record, a variety of approaches is available, including not only estimation of degree of bioturbation, but also analysis of ichnodiversity and ichnodisparity trajectories, and evaluation of the occupation of infaunal ecospace and styles of ecosystem engineering. Analysis of the trace-fossil record demonstrates the presence of motile benthic bilaterians in the Ediacaran, mostly feeding from biofilms. Although Ediacaran trace fossils are simple and emplaced at or immediately below the sediment surface, an increase in ichnofossil complexity, predation pressure, sediment disturbance and penetration depth is apparent during the terminal Ediacaran. Regardless of this increase, a dramatic rise in trace fossil diversity and disparity took place during the earliest Cambrian, underscoring that the novelty of the Fortunian (539-529 Ma) cannot be underestimated. The Fortunian still shows the persistence of an Ediacaran-style matground ecology, but is fundamentally characterized by the appearance of new trace-fossil architectural plans reflecting novel ways of interacting with the substrate. The appearance of Phanerozoic-style benthic ecosystems attests to an increased length and connectivity of the food web and improved efficiency in organic carbon transfer and nutrient recycling. A profound reorganization of the infaunal ecospace is recorded in both high-energy sand-dominated nearshore areas and low-energy mud-dominated offshore environments, during the early Cambrian, starting approximately during Cambrian Age 2 (529-521 Ma), but continuing during the rest of the early Cambrian. A model comprising four evolutionary phases is proposed to synthetize information from the Ediacaran-Cambrian trace-fossil record. The use of a rich ichnological toolbox; critical, systematic and comprehensive evaluation of the Ediacaran-Cambrian trace-fossil record; and high-resolution integration of the ichnological dataset and sedimentological information show that the advent of biogenic mixing was an important factor in fully marine environments at the dawn of the Phanerozoic.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Gabriela Mángano
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 114 Science Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 5E2
| | - Luis A Buatois
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 114 Science Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 5E2
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24
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Pienta KJ, Hammarlund EU, Axelrod R, Amend SR, Brown JS. Convergent Evolution, Evolving Evolvability, and the Origins of Lethal Cancer. Mol Cancer Res 2020; 18:801-810. [PMID: 32234827 PMCID: PMC7272288 DOI: 10.1158/1541-7786.mcr-19-1158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2019] [Revised: 02/03/2020] [Accepted: 03/26/2020] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
Advances in curative treatment to remove the primary tumor have increased survival of localized cancers for most solid tumor types, yet cancers that have spread are typically incurable and account for >90% of cancer-related deaths. Metastatic disease remains incurable because, somehow, tumors evolve resistance to all known compounds, including therapies. In all of these incurable patients, de novo lethal cancer evolves capacities for both metastasis and resistance. Therefore, cancers in different patients appear to follow the same eco-evolutionary path that independently manifests in affected patients. This convergent outcome, that always includes the ability to metastasize and exhibit resistance, demands an explanation beyond the slow and steady accrual of stochastic mutations. The common denominator may be that cancer starts as a speciation event when a unicellular protist breaks away from its multicellular host and initiates a cancer clade within the patient. As the cancer cells speciate and diversify further, some evolve the capacity to evolve: evolvability. Evolvability becomes a heritable trait that influences the available variation of other phenotypes that can then be acted upon by natural selection. Evolving evolvability may be an adaptation for cancer cells. By generating and maintaining considerable heritable variation, the cancer clade can, with high certainty, serendipitously produce cells resistant to therapy and cells capable of metastasizing. Understanding that cancer cells can swiftly evolve responses to novel and varied stressors create opportunities for adaptive therapy, double-bind therapies, and extinction therapies; all involving strategic decision making that steers and anticipates the convergent coevolutionary responses of the cancers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kenneth J Pienta
- The Brady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.
| | - Emma U Hammarlund
- Nordic Center for Earth Evolution, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
- Translational Cancer Research, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Robert Axelrod
- Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Sarah R Amend
- The Brady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Joel S Brown
- Cancer Biology and Evolution Program and Department of Integrated Mathematical Oncology, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida
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25
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Shuffling type of biological evolution based on horizontal gene transfer and the biosphere gene pool hypothesis. Biosystems 2020; 193-194:104131. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2020.104131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2019] [Revised: 03/12/2020] [Accepted: 03/12/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
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Cole DB, Mills DB, Erwin DH, Sperling EA, Porter SM, Reinhard CT, Planavsky NJ. On the co-evolution of surface oxygen levels and animals. GEOBIOLOGY 2020; 18:260-281. [PMID: 32175670 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12382] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2019] [Revised: 01/04/2020] [Accepted: 01/22/2020] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Few topics in geobiology have been as extensively debated as the role of Earth's oxygenation in controlling when and why animals emerged and diversified. All currently described animals require oxygen for at least a portion of their life cycle. Therefore, the transition to an oxygenated planet was a prerequisite for the emergence of animals. Yet, our understanding of Earth's oxygenation and the environmental requirements of animal habitability and ecological success is currently limited; estimates for the timing of the appearance of environments sufficiently oxygenated to support ecologically stable populations of animals span a wide range, from billions of years to only a few million years before animals appear in the fossil record. In this light, the extent to which oxygen played an important role in controlling when animals appeared remains a topic of debate. When animals originated and when they diversified are separate questions, meaning either one or both of these phenomena could have been decoupled from oxygenation. Here, we present views from across this interpretive spectrum-in a point-counterpoint format-regarding crucial aspects of the potential links between animals and surface oxygen levels. We highlight areas where the standard discourse on this topic requires a change of course and note that several traditional arguments in this "life versus environment" debate are poorly founded. We also identify a clear need for basic research across a range of fields to disentangle the relationships between oxygen availability and emergence and diversification of animal life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Devon B Cole
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Science, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia
| | - Daniel B Mills
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California
| | - Douglas H Erwin
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, District of Columbia
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico
| | - Erik A Sperling
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California
| | - Susannah M Porter
- Department of Earth Science, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California
| | - Christopher T Reinhard
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Science, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia
| | - Noah J Planavsky
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
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27
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Erwin DH. The origin of animal body plans: a view from fossil evidence and the regulatory genome. Development 2020; 147:147/4/dev182899. [DOI: 10.1242/dev.182899] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The origins and the early evolution of multicellular animals required the exploitation of holozoan genomic regulatory elements and the acquisition of new regulatory tools. Comparative studies of metazoans and their relatives now allow reconstruction of the evolution of the metazoan regulatory genome, but the deep conservation of many genes has led to varied hypotheses about the morphology of early animals and the extent of developmental co-option. In this Review, I assess the emerging view that the early diversification of animals involved small organisms with diverse cell types, but largely lacking complex developmental patterning, which evolved independently in different bilaterian clades during the Cambrian Explosion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Douglas H. Erwin
- Department of Paleobiology, MRC-121, National Museum of Natural History, PO Box 37012, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA
- Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA
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28
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Schiffbauer JD, Selly T, Jacquet SM, Merz RA, Nelson LL, Strange MA, Cai Y, Smith EF. Discovery of bilaterian-type through-guts in cloudinomorphs from the terminal Ediacaran Period. Nat Commun 2020; 11:205. [PMID: 31924764 PMCID: PMC6954273 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13882-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2019] [Accepted: 12/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
The fossil record of the terminal Ediacaran Period is typified by the iconic index fossil Cloudina and its relatives. These tube-dwellers are presumed to be primitive metazoans, but resolving their phylogenetic identity has remained a point of contention. The root of the problem is a lack of diagnostic features; that is, phylogenetic interpretations have largely centered on the only available source of information-their external tubes. Here, using tomographic analyses of fossils from the Wood Canyon Formation (Nevada, USA), we report evidence of recognizable soft tissues within their external tubes. Although alternative interpretations are plausible, these internal cylindrical structures may be most appropriately interpreted as digestive tracts, which would be, to date, the earliest-known occurrence of such features in the fossil record. If this interpretation is correct, their nature as one-way through-guts not only provides evidence for establishing these fossils as definitive bilaterians but also has implications for the long-debated phylogenetic position of the broader cloudinomorphs.
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Affiliation(s)
- James D Schiffbauer
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA.
- X-ray Microanalysis Core, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA.
| | - Tara Selly
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA.
- X-ray Microanalysis Core, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA.
| | - Sarah M Jacquet
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA
| | - Rachel A Merz
- Biology Department, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA, 19081, USA
| | - Lyle L Nelson
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA
| | - Michael A Strange
- Department of Geoscience, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, 89154, USA
| | - Yaoping Cai
- Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Early Life and Environment, State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, and Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi'an, 710069, China
| | - Emily F Smith
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA
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Fields C, Bischof J, Levin M. Morphological Coordination: A Common Ancestral Function Unifying Neural and Non-Neural Signaling. Physiology (Bethesda) 2020; 35:16-30. [DOI: 10.1152/physiol.00027.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Nervous systems are traditionally thought of as providing sensing and behavioral coordination functions at the level of the whole organism. What is the evolutionary origin of the mechanisms enabling the nervous systems’ information processing ability? Here, we review evidence from evolutionary, developmental, and regenerative biology suggesting a deeper, ancestral function of both pre-neural and neural cell-cell communication systems: the long-distance coordination of cell division and differentiation required to create and maintain body-axis symmetries. This conceptualization of the function of nervous system activity sheds new light on the evolutionary transition from the morphologically rudimentary, non-neural Porifera and Placazoa to the complex morphologies of Ctenophores, Cnidarians, and Bilaterians. It further allows a sharp formulation of the distinction between long-distance axis-symmetry coordination based on external coordinates, e.g., by whole-organism scale trophisms as employed by plants and sessile animals, and coordination based on body-centered coordinates as employed by motile animals. Thus we suggest that the systems that control animal behavior evolved from ancient mechanisms adapting preexisting ionic and neurotransmitter mechanisms to regulate individual cell behaviors during morphogenesis. An appreciation of the ancient, non-neural origins of bioelectrically mediated computation suggests new approaches to the study of embryological development, including embryological dysregulation, cancer, regenerative medicine, and synthetic bioengineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chris Fields
- 23 Rue des Lavandières, Caunes Minervois, France
| | - Johanna Bischof
- Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts
| | - Michael Levin
- Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts
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30
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Zhang F, Xiao S, Romaniello SJ, Hardisty D, Li C, Melezhik V, Pokrovsky B, Cheng M, Shi W, Lenton TM, Anbar AD. Global marine redox changes drove the rise and fall of the Ediacara biota. GEOBIOLOGY 2019; 17:594-610. [PMID: 31353777 PMCID: PMC6899691 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2019] [Revised: 06/25/2019] [Accepted: 07/04/2019] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
The role of O2 in the evolution of early animals, as represented by some members of the Ediacara biota, has been heavily debated because current geochemical evidence paints a conflicting picture regarding global marine O2 levels during key intervals of the rise and fall of the Ediacara biota. Fossil evidence indicates that the diversification the Ediacara biota occurred during or shortly after the Ediacaran Shuram negative C-isotope Excursion (SE), which is often interpreted to reflect ocean oxygenation. However, there is conflicting evidence regarding ocean oxygen levels during the SE and the middle Ediacaran Period. To help resolve this debate, we examined U isotope variations (δ238 U) in three carbonate sections from South China, Siberia, and USA that record the SE. The δ238 U data from all three sections are in excellent agreement and reveal the largest positive shift in δ238 U ever reported in the geologic record (from ~ -0.74‰ to ~ -0.26‰). Quantitative modeling of these data suggests that the global ocean switched from a largely anoxic state (26%-100% of the seafloor overlain by anoxic waters) to near-modern levels of ocean oxygenation during the SE. This episode of ocean oxygenation is broadly coincident with the rise of the Ediacara biota. Following this initial radiation, the Ediacara biota persisted until the terminal Ediacaran period, when recently published U isotope data indicate a return to more widespread ocean anoxia. Taken together, it appears that global marine redox changes drove the rise and fall of the Ediacara biota.
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Affiliation(s)
- Feifei Zhang
- School of Earth Sciences and EngineeringNanjing UniversityNanjingChina
- Department of Geology and GeophysicsYale UniversityNew HavenCTUSA
- The Globe InstituteUniversity of CopenhagenCopenhagen KDenmark
- School of Earth and Space ExplorationArizona State UniversityTempeAZUSA
| | - Shuhai Xiao
- Department of GeosciencesVirginia TechBlacksburgVAUSA
| | | | - Dalton Hardisty
- Department of Earth and Environmental ScienceMichigan State UniversityEast LansingMIUSA
| | - Chao Li
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental GeologyChina University of GeosciencesWuhanChina
| | | | | | - Meng Cheng
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental GeologyChina University of GeosciencesWuhanChina
| | - Wei Shi
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental GeologyChina University of GeosciencesWuhanChina
| | | | - Ariel D. Anbar
- School of Earth and Space ExplorationArizona State UniversityTempeAZUSA
- School of Molecular ScienceArizona State UniversityTempeAZUSA
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31
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Paulin MG, Cahill‐Lane J. Events in Early Nervous System Evolution. Top Cogn Sci 2019; 13:25-44. [DOI: 10.1111/tops.12461] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2019] [Revised: 09/09/2019] [Accepted: 09/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
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Cribb AT, Kenchington CG, Koester B, Gibson BM, Boag TH, Racicot RA, Mocke H, Laflamme M, Darroch SAF. Increase in metazoan ecosystem engineering prior to the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary in the Nama Group, Namibia. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2019; 6:190548. [PMID: 31598294 PMCID: PMC6774933 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.190548] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2019] [Accepted: 08/23/2019] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
The disappearance of the soft-bodied Ediacara biota at the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary potentially represents the earliest mass extinction of complex life, although the precise driver(s) of this extinction remain unresolved. The 'biotic replacement' model proposes that an evolutionary radiation of metazoan ecosystem engineers in the latest Ediacaran profoundly altered marine palaeoenvironments, resulting in the extinction of Ediacara biota and setting the stage for the subsequent Cambrian Explosion. However, metazoan ecosystem engineering across the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition has yet to be quantified. Here, we test this key tenet of the biotic replacement model by characterizing the intensity of metazoan bioturbation and ecosystem engineering in trace fossil assemblages throughout the latest Ediacaran Nama Group in southern Namibia. The results illustrate a dramatic increase in both bioturbation and ecosystem engineering intensity in the latest Ediacaran, prior to the Cambrian boundary. Moreover, our analyses demonstrate that the highest-impact ecosystem engineering behaviours were present well before the onset of the Cambrian. These data provide the first support for a fundamental prediction of the biotic replacement model, and evidence for a direct link between the early evolution of ecosystem engineering and the extinction of the Ediacara biota.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alison T. Cribb
- Earth and Environmental Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235-1805, USA
- Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0740, USA
| | | | - Bryce Koester
- Earth and Environmental Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235-1805, USA
- Department of Biodiversity, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Brandt M. Gibson
- Earth and Environmental Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235-1805, USA
| | - Thomas H. Boag
- Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94304, USA
| | - Rachel A. Racicot
- Earth and Environmental Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235-1805, USA
| | - Helke Mocke
- Geological Survey of Namibia, Ministry of Mines and Energy, Windhoek, Namibia
| | - Marc Laflamme
- Chemical and Physical Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, CanadaL5L 1C6
| | - Simon A. F. Darroch
- Earth and Environmental Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235-1805, USA
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33
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Tang Q, Wan B, Yuan X, Muscente AD, Xiao S. Spiculogenesis and biomineralization in early sponge animals. Nat Commun 2019; 10:3348. [PMID: 31350398 PMCID: PMC6659672 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11297-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2018] [Accepted: 06/28/2019] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Most sponges have biomineralized spicules. Molecular clocks indicate sponge classes diverged in the Cryogenian, but the oldest spicules are Cambrian in age. Therefore, sponges either evolved spiculogenesis long after their divergences or Precambrian spicules were not amenable to fossilization. The former hypothesis predicts independent origins of spicules among sponge classes and presence of transitional forms with weakly biomineralized spicules, but this prediction has not been tested using paleontological data. Here, we report an early Cambrian sponge that, like several other early Paleozoic sponges, had weakly biomineralized and hexactine-based siliceous spicules with large axial filaments and high organic proportions. This material, along with Ediacaran microfossils containing putative non-biomineralized axial filaments, suggests that Precambrian sponges may have had weakly biomineralized spicules or lacked them altogether, hence their poor record. This work provides a new search image for Precambrian sponge fossils, which are critical to resolving the origin of sponge spiculogenesis and biomineralization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qing Tang
- Department of Geosciences and Global Change Center, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA
| | - Bin Wan
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 210008, Nanjing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China
| | - Xunlai Yuan
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 210008, Nanjing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China
| | - A D Muscente
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Texas, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
| | - Shuhai Xiao
- Department of Geosciences and Global Change Center, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA.
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34
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Gibson BM, Rahman IA, Maloney KM, Racicot RA, Mocke H, Laflamme M, Darroch SAF. Gregarious suspension feeding in a modular Ediacaran organism. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2019; 5:eaaw0260. [PMID: 31223655 PMCID: PMC6584682 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw0260] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2018] [Accepted: 05/14/2019] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
Reconstructing Precambrian eukaryotic paleoecology is pivotal to understanding the origins of the modern, animal-dominated biosphere. Here, we combine new fossil data from southern Namibia with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to test between competing feeding models for the Ediacaran taxon Ernietta. In addition, we perform simulations for multiple individuals, allowing us to analyze hydrodynamics of living communities. We show that Ernietta lived gregariously, forming shallow marine aggregations in the latest Ediacaran, 548 to 541 million years (Ma) ago. We demonstrate enhanced vertical mixing of the water column above aggregations and preferential redirection of current into body cavities of downstream individuals. These results support the reconstruction of Ernietta as a macroscopic suspension feeder and also provide a convincing paleoecological advantage to feeding in aggregations analogous to those recognized in many extant marine metazoans. These results provide some of the oldest evidence of commensal facilitation by macroscopic eukaryotes yet recognized in the fossil record.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Imran A. Rahman
- Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Oxford OX1 3PW, UK
| | - Katie M. Maloney
- University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario L5L 1C6, Canada
| | - Rachel A. Racicot
- Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235-1805, USA
- WM Keck Science Department, Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, and Scripps Colleges, 925 N Mills Ave., Claremont, CA 91711, USA
| | - Helke Mocke
- Geological Survey of Namibia, National Earth Science Museum, Windhoek, Namibia
| | - Marc Laflamme
- University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario L5L 1C6, Canada
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35
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Integrated records of environmental change and evolution challenge the Cambrian Explosion. Nat Ecol Evol 2019; 3:528-538. [DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0821-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 120] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2018] [Accepted: 01/22/2019] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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36
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Muscente AD, Bykova N, Boag TH, Buatois LA, Mángano MG, Eleish A, Prabhu A, Pan F, Meyer MB, Schiffbauer JD, Fox P, Hazen RM, Knoll AH. Ediacaran biozones identified with network analysis provide evidence for pulsed extinctions of early complex life. Nat Commun 2019; 10:911. [PMID: 30796215 PMCID: PMC6384941 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08837-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2018] [Accepted: 01/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Rocks of Ediacaran age (~635–541 Ma) contain the oldest fossils of large, complex organisms and their behaviors. These fossils document developmental and ecological innovations, and suggest that extinctions helped to shape the trajectory of early animal evolution. Conventional methods divide Ediacaran macrofossil localities into taxonomically distinct clusters, which may represent evolutionary, environmental, or preservational variation. Here, we investigate these possibilities with network analysis of body and trace fossil occurrences. By partitioning multipartite networks of taxa, paleoenvironments, and geologic formations into community units, we distinguish between biostratigraphic zones and paleoenvironmentally restricted biotopes, and provide empirically robust and statistically significant evidence for a global, cosmopolitan assemblage unique to terminal Ediacaran strata. The assemblage is taxonomically depauperate but includes fossils of recognizable eumetazoans, which lived between two episodes of biotic turnover. These turnover events were the first major extinctions of complex life and paved the way for the Cambrian radiation of animals. The Ediacara biota—the first large, complex organisms to evolve on Earth—disappeared prior to the radiation of animals during the Cambrian Period. Here, Muscente et al. perform network analysis of Ediacaran fossils and show that there were two global extinction events before the Cambrian radiation.
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Affiliation(s)
- A D Muscente
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA. .,Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geoscience, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA.
| | - Natalia Bykova
- Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics, Siberian Branch Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
| | - Thomas H Boag
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Luis A Buatois
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7n 5E2, Canada
| | - M Gabriela Mángano
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7n 5E2, Canada
| | - Ahmed Eleish
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Jonsson-Rowland Science Center, 1W19, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY, 12180, USA
| | - Anirudh Prabhu
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Jonsson-Rowland Science Center, 1W19, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY, 12180, USA
| | - Feifei Pan
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Jonsson-Rowland Science Center, 1W19, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY, 12180, USA
| | - Michael B Meyer
- Earth and Environmental Science Program, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, Harrisburg, PA, 17101, USA
| | - James D Schiffbauer
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA.,X-ray Microanalysis Core Facility, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA
| | - Peter Fox
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Jonsson-Rowland Science Center, 1W19, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY, 12180, USA
| | - Robert M Hazen
- Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, 5251 Broad Branch Road, Washington, D.C, 20015, USA
| | - Andrew H Knoll
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.,Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
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Abstract
The dynamics of how metazoan phyla appeared and evolved – known as the Cambrian Explosion – remains elusive. We present a quantitative analysis of the temporal distribution (based on occurrence data of fossil species sampled in each time interval) of lophotrochozoan skeletal species (n = 430) from the terminal Ediacaran to Cambrian Stage 5 (~545 – ~505 Million years ago (Ma)) of the Siberian Platform, Russia. We use morphological traits to distinguish between stem and crown groups. Possible skeletal stem group lophophorates, brachiopods, and molluscs (n = 354) appear in the terminal Ediacaran (~542 Ma) and diversify during the early Cambrian Terreneuvian and again in Stage 2, but were devastated during the early Cambrian Stage 4 Sinsk extinction event (~513 Ma) never to recover previous diversity. Inferred crown group brachiopod and mollusc species (n = 76) do not appear until the Fortunian, ~537 Ma, radiate in the early Cambrian Stage 3 (~522 Ma), and with minimal loss of diversity at the Sinsk Event, continued to diversify into the Ordovician. The Sinsk Event also removed other probable stem groups, such as archaeocyath sponges. Notably, this diversification starts before, and extends across the Ediacaran/Cambrian boundary and the Basal Cambrian Carbon Isotope Excursion (BACE) interval (~541 to ~540 Ma), ascribed to a possible global perturbation of the carbon cycle. We therefore propose two phases of the Cambrian Explosion separated by the Sinsk extinction event, the first dominated by stem groups of phyla from the late Ediacaran, ~542 Ma, to early Cambrian stage 4, ~513 Ma, and the second marked by radiating bilaterian crown group species of phyla from ~513 Ma and extending to the Ordovician Radiation.
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38
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Darroch SAF, Laflamme M, Wagner PJ. High ecological complexity in benthic Ediacaran communities. Nat Ecol Evol 2018; 2:1541-1547. [PMID: 30224815 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-018-0663-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2018] [Accepted: 08/08/2018] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
A long-running debate over the affinities of the Neoproterozoic 'Ediacara biota' has led to contrasting interpretations of Ediacaran ecosystem complexity. A 'simple' model assumes that most, if not all, Ediacaran organisms shared similar basic ecologies. A contrasting 'complex' model suggests that the Ediacara biota more likely represent organisms from a variety of different positions on the eukaryotic tree and thus occupied a wide range of different ecologies. We perform a quantitative test of Ediacaran ecosystem complexity using rank abundance distributions (RADs). We show that the Ediacara biota formed complex-type communities throughout much of their stratigraphic range and thus likely comprised species that competed for different resources and/or created niche for others ('ecosystem engineers'). One possible explanation for this pattern rests in the recent inference of multiple metazoan-style feeding modes among the Ediacara biota; in this scenario, different Ediacaran groups/clades were engaged in different methods of nutrient collection and thus competed for different resources. This result illustrates that the Ediacara biota may not have been as bizarre as it is sometimes suggested, and provides an ecological link with the animal-dominated benthic ecosystems of the Palaeozoic era.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Marc Laflamme
- University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
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