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Crecimiento agregado sincrónico en un nuevo y abundante organismo tubular ediacárico
Mary L Droser1, James G Gehling
1Department of Earth Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA. Mary.droser@ucr.edu
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|March 22, 2008
Resumen
La evidencia fósil de Ediacara, Australia, revela que Funisia dorothea, un organismo Neoproterozoico abundante, creció sincrónicamente en densos racimos. Esto sugiere que los primeros ecosistemas marinos tenían estrategias complejas de invertebrados antes de la esqueletización.
Área de la Ciencia:
- Paleontología y estudios de la vida del Precámbrico.
- Evolución de los primeros animales y ecología.
Sus antecedentes:
- La Era Neoproterozoica (5411000 millones de años atrás) es anterior a la Explosión Cámbrica, pero alberga una diversidad de biotas fósiles de cuerpo blando.
- Comprender los primeros ecosistemas metazoares es crucial para rastrear la evolución de la vida animal y las estrategias ecológicas.
Objetivo del estudio:
- Para investigar los patrones de crecimiento y las estrategias ecológicas de Funisia dorothea, el taxón más abundante en la biota de Ediacara.
- Inferir las afinidades filogenéticas y los roles ecológicos de los primeros organismos del Neoproterozoico.
Principales métodos:
- Análisis de ensamblajes fósiles de Ediacara, Australia del Sur, centrado en la morfología y distribución espacial de Funisia dorothea.
- Examen microscópico de las estructuras tubulares para determinar los patrones de crecimiento (adición modular, ramificación).
- Análisis comparativo de la morfología de Funisia y el crecimiento colonial con los filos existentes (Porifera, Cnidaria).
Principales resultados:
- Los individuos de Funisia dorothea ocurrieron en densos grupos monospecíficos, lo que indica un crecimiento agregado sincrónico (spatfall).
- Los tubos se anclaron en sedimentos marinos poco profundos y exhibieron un crecimiento y ramificación modular y en serie.
- Las características morfológicas sugieren una posible afinidad con Porifera (esponjas) o Cnidaria (medusas y corales).
Conclusiones:
- Funisia dorothea demuestra estrategias ecológicas complejas, incluida la colonialidad densa y el crecimiento modular, presentes en los primeros ecosistemas metazoarios.
- Estos hallazgos indican que las estrategias exitosas de los invertebrados marinos, como la caída espontánea y la agregación densa, precedieron a la esqueletización y la depredación generalizada.
- El estudio proporciona información sobre la sofisticación ecológica de los entornos marinos del Neoproterozoico.
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