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Wang Z, Davies NS, Liu AG, Minter NJ, Rahman IA. Identifying signatures of the earliest benthic bulldozers in emergent subaerial conditions during the colonization of land by animals. Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20241629. [PMID: 39500375 PMCID: PMC11708782 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.1629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2024] [Revised: 08/30/2024] [Accepted: 10/02/2024] [Indexed: 01/11/2025] Open
Abstract
The colonization of land by animals was a milestone in the history of life. Approximately 100 million years before full terrestrialization, early animals sporadically traversed emergent subaerial substrates, leaving behind trace fossils recording their activities. However, identifying temporarily emergent environments and determining the affinities, motility and subaerial endurance of the trace-makers, and the timing and magnitude of their impacts on marginal-marine environments, are challenging. Here, we used semi-resolved computational fluid dynamics-discrete element method coupling to simulate trace formation on non-cohesive sediments in submerged and emergent subaerial conditions. This revealed instability-induced morphological signatures that allow us to identify the earliest terrestrial trace fossils. Quantitative metrics enable us to infer that the putative earliest terrestrial trace-makers were molluscs, and dimensional analysis suggests that their subaerial excursions could last at least 15 min. These organisms navigated emergent environments from the early Cambrian (stage 2), tens of millions of years earlier than arthropods. This quantitative paradigm provides new insights into the palaeobiology of the earliest subaerial bulldozers and highlights that mollusc-like animals were among the first ecosystem engineers to enter marginal-marine settings. They may thus have contributed to the establishment of marginal-marine biogeochemical cycles, laying the groundwork for subsequent terrestrialization by other animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zekun Wang
- Department of Earth Sciences, The Natural History Museum, LondonSW7 5BD, UK
| | - Neil S. Davies
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, CambridgeCB2 3EQ, UK
| | - Alexander G. Liu
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, CambridgeCB2 3EQ, UK
| | - Nicholas J. Minter
- School of the Environment, Geography, and Geosciences, University of Portsmouth, Burnaby Building, Burnaby Road, PortsmouthPO1 3QL, UK
| | - Imran A. Rahman
- Department of Earth Sciences, The Natural History Museum, LondonSW7 5BD, UK
- Oxford University Museum of Natural History, University of Oxford, OxfordOX1 3PW, UK
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Arboleda-Baena C, Freilich M, Pareja CB, Logares R, De la Iglesia R, Navarrete SA. Microbial community and network responses across strong environmental gradients: How do they compare with macroorganisms? FEMS Microbiol Ecol 2024; 100:fiae017. [PMID: 38327185 PMCID: PMC10894034 DOI: 10.1093/femsec/fiae017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2023] [Revised: 01/01/2024] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 02/09/2024] Open
Abstract
The way strong environmental gradients shape multispecific assemblages has allowed us to examine a suite of ecological and evolutionary hypotheses about structure, regulation and community responses to fluctuating environments. But whether the highly diverse co-occurring microorganisms are shaped in similar ways as macroscopic organisms across the same gradients has yet to be addressed in most ecosystems. Here, we characterize intertidal biofilm bacteria communities, comparing zonation at both the "species" and community levels, as well as network attributes, with co-occurring macroalgae and invertebrates in the same rocky shore system. The results revealed that the desiccation gradient has a more significant impact on smaller communities, while both desiccation and submersion gradients (surge) affect the larger, macroscopic communities. At the community level, we also confirmed the existence of distinct communities within each intertidal zone for microorganisms, similar to what has been previously described for macroorganisms. But our results indicated that dominant microbial organisms along the same environmental gradient exhibited less differentiation across tidal levels than their macroscopic counterparts. However, despite the substantial differences in richness, size and attributes of co-occurrence networks, both macro- and micro-communities respond to stress gradients, leading to the formation of similar zonation patterns in the intertidal rocky shore.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clara Arboleda-Baena
- Department of Ecology, Estación Costera de Investigaciones Marinas (ECIM), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, El Tabo, 2690000, Chile
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Laboratorio de Microbiología Marina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago de Chile, 8320000, Chile
- Department of Hydrobiology, Laboratory of Microbial Processes & Biodiversity, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Carlos, 13565-905, Brazil
| | - Mara Freilich
- Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences and Division of Applied Mathematics, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA
| | - Claudia Belén Pareja
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Laboratorio de Microbiología Marina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago de Chile, 8320000, Chile
| | - Ramiro Logares
- Instituto de Ciencias del Mar – CSIC, Paseo Marítimo de la Barceloneta, Barcelona, 08003, Spain
| | - Rodrigo De la Iglesia
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Laboratorio de Microbiología Marina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago de Chile, 8320000, Chile
- Marine Energy Research & Innovation Center (MERIC), Santiago de Chile, 8320000, Chile
| | - Sergio A Navarrete
- Department of Ecology, Estación Costera de Investigaciones Marinas (ECIM), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, El Tabo, 2690000, Chile
- Marine Energy Research & Innovation Center (MERIC), Santiago de Chile, 8320000, Chile
- Núcleo Milenio para la Ecología y la Conservación de los Ecosistemas de Arrecifes Mesofóticos Templados (NUTME), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago de Chile, 8320000, Chile
- Center for Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES) and Coastal Socioecologial Milenium Institute (SECOS), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago de Chile, 8320000, Chile
- Center for Oceanographic Research, Copas Coastal, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile
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