Microstructural data of six recent brachiopod species: SEM, EBSD, morphometric and statistical analyses.

Area of Science:

• Marine Biology
• Paleontology
• Geology

Background:

• Brachiopod shells possess a complex microstructure crucial for understanding their adaptation.
• Environmental conditions significantly influence shell structural development.
• Previous studies have lacked detailed quantitative analysis of brachiopod shell microstructure.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a dataset for analyzing brachiopod shell microstructure.
• To establish morphometric and statistical methods for studying brachiopod shell structural units.
• To develop a tool for environmental studies based on brachiopod shell microstructure.

Main Methods:

• Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) for detailed imaging of shell microstructure.
• Morphometric analysis of secondary layer fibers using image analysis software (Adobe Photoshop CS6, Image-Pro Plus 6.0, ImageJ).
• Statistical analysis including Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and independent-samples t-tests (R 3.3.0, SPSS Statistics).
• Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) for qualitative microstructural description.

Main Results:

• Quantitative data on morphometric parameters of brachiopod shell secondary layer fibers were generated.
• Statistical analyses revealed significant patterns in microstructural variations across different species and environmental conditions.
• SEM and EBSD provided detailed qualitative insights into the shell microstructure.

Conclusions:

• The characterized brachiopod shell microstructure and associated dataset serve as a valuable tool for environmental studies.
• Morphometric and statistical approaches offer robust methods for analyzing microstructural adaptations.
• This research enhances our understanding of brachiopod paleoecology and evolutionary responses to environmental change.