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In Situ Hybridization Techniques for Paraffin-Embedded Adult Coral Samples

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The Avalon explosion: evolution of Ediacara morphospace.

Bing Shen¹, Lin Dong, Shuhai Xiao

¹Department of Geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.

Science (New York, N.Y.)

|January 5, 2008

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Early Ediacara fossils show the full range of complex life morphospace. Later assemblages had similar morphospace but varied in species diversity and morphological variance.

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Area of Science:

Paleontology
Evolutionary Biology
Geology

Background:

Ediacara fossils (575-542 million years ago) are the earliest known complex macroscopic life.
The morphological evolution of these ancient organisms remains poorly understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To quantitatively analyze the morphological history of Ediacara fossil assemblages.
To understand diversity changes and morphospace occupation over time.

Main Methods:

Comprehensive quantitative analysis of Ediacara fossil assemblages.
Comparative study of Avalon, White Sea, and Nama assemblages.

Main Results:

The oldest Avalon assemblage (575-565 Ma) exhibited the full Ediacara morphospace range.
Subsequent White Sea and Nama assemblages occupied a similar morphospace but with different population structures.
Taxonomic richness increased in the White Sea assemblage and decreased in the Nama assemblage.
Morphological variance shifted inversely with diversity changes while morphospace remained constant.

Conclusions:

Ediacara morphospace was established early and remained relatively constant.
Diversity dynamics, not morphospace expansion, characterized later Ediacara assemblages.
The early morphospace expansion of Ediacara life may share mechanisms with the later Cambrian explosion.