Assemblage palaeoecology of the Ediacara biota: The unabridged edition?
نویسندگان
چکیده
Fossils of the Ediacara biota offer our earliest insight into diverse macroscopic life on this planet. In particular, given the diversity and range of exquisite soft-bodied preservation, the potential for unraveling aspects of the paleobiology and paleoecology is great. Clearly, however, there can be a taphonomic overprint that dictates how complete the assemblage is. New diversity data (including richness and evenness) from South Australia is compared to previously published data from Newfoundland and the White Sea and is within the range of values for both modern and Phanerozoic assemblages. However, missing from our current understanding of Ediacaran ecosystems is a full description and interpretation of the many problematica structures and organic surfaces. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
منابع مشابه
Biotic replacement and mass extinction of the Ediacara biota.
The latest Neoproterozoic extinction of the Ediacara biota has been variously attributed to catastrophic removal by perturbations to global geochemical cycles, 'biotic replacement' by Cambrian-type ecosystem engineers, and a taphonomic artefact. We perform the first critical test of the 'biotic replacement' hypothesis using combined palaeoecological and geochemical data collected from the young...
متن کاملUnusual Deep Water sponge assemblage in South China—Witness of the end-Ordovician mass extinction
There are few sponges known from the end-Ordovician to early-Silurian strata all over the world, and no records of sponge fossils have been found yet in China during this interval. Here we report a unique sponge assemblage spanning the interval of the end-Ordovician mass extinction from the Kaochiapien Formation (Upper Ordovician-Lower Silurian) in South China. This assemblage contains a variet...
متن کاملOn the eve of animal radiation: phylogeny, ecology and evolution of the Ediacara biota.
Ediacara fossils document an important evolutionary episode just before the Cambrian explosion and hold critical information about the early evolution of macroscopic and complex multicellular life. They also represent an enduring controversy in paleontology. How are the Ediacara fossils related to living animals? How did they live? Do they share any evolutionary patterns with other life forms? ...
متن کاملHighly regulated growth and development of the Ediacara macrofossil Dickinsonia costata
The Ediacara Biota represents the oldest fossil evidence for the appearance of animals but linking these taxa to specific clades has proved challenging. Dickinsonia is an abundant, apparently bilaterally symmetrical Ediacara fossil with uncertain affinities. We identified and measured key morphological features of over 900 specimens of Dickinsonia costata from the Ediacara Member, South Austral...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
عنوان ژورنال:
دوره شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2006