The Avalon Explosion: Evolution of Ediacara Morphospace
Ediacara fossils [575 to 542 million years ago (Ma)] represent Earth's oldest known complex macroscopic life forms, but their morphological history is poorly understood. A comprehensive quantitative analysis of these fossils indicates that the oldest Ediacara assemblage—the Avalon assemblage (5...
Published in: | Science |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2008
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1150279 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1150279 |
id |
craaas:10.1126/science.1150279 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
craaas:10.1126/science.1150279 2024-09-30T14:45:51+00:00 The Avalon Explosion: Evolution of Ediacara Morphospace Shen, Bing Dong, Lin Xiao, Shuhai Kowalewski, Michał 2008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1150279 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1150279 en eng American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science volume 319, issue 5859, page 81-84 ISSN 0036-8075 1095-9203 journal-article 2008 craaas https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1150279 2024-09-12T04:01:20Z Ediacara fossils [575 to 542 million years ago (Ma)] represent Earth's oldest known complex macroscopic life forms, but their morphological history is poorly understood. A comprehensive quantitative analysis of these fossils indicates that the oldest Ediacara assemblage—the Avalon assemblage (575 to 565 Ma)—already encompassed the full range of Ediacara morphospace. A comparable morphospace range was occupied by the subsequent White Sea (560 to 550 Ma) and Nama (550 to 542 Ma) assemblages, although it was populated differently. In contrast, taxonomic richness increased in the White Sea assemblage and declined in the Nama assemblage. These diversity changes, occurring while morphospace range remained relatively constant, led to inverse shifts in morphological variance. The Avalon morphospace expansion mirrors the Cambrian explosion, and both events may reflect similar underlying mechanisms. Article in Journal/Newspaper White Sea AAAS Resource Center (American Association for the Advancement of Science) White Sea Science 319 5859 81 84 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
AAAS Resource Center (American Association for the Advancement of Science) |
op_collection_id |
craaas |
language |
English |
description |
Ediacara fossils [575 to 542 million years ago (Ma)] represent Earth's oldest known complex macroscopic life forms, but their morphological history is poorly understood. A comprehensive quantitative analysis of these fossils indicates that the oldest Ediacara assemblage—the Avalon assemblage (575 to 565 Ma)—already encompassed the full range of Ediacara morphospace. A comparable morphospace range was occupied by the subsequent White Sea (560 to 550 Ma) and Nama (550 to 542 Ma) assemblages, although it was populated differently. In contrast, taxonomic richness increased in the White Sea assemblage and declined in the Nama assemblage. These diversity changes, occurring while morphospace range remained relatively constant, led to inverse shifts in morphological variance. The Avalon morphospace expansion mirrors the Cambrian explosion, and both events may reflect similar underlying mechanisms. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Shen, Bing Dong, Lin Xiao, Shuhai Kowalewski, Michał |
spellingShingle |
Shen, Bing Dong, Lin Xiao, Shuhai Kowalewski, Michał The Avalon Explosion: Evolution of Ediacara Morphospace |
author_facet |
Shen, Bing Dong, Lin Xiao, Shuhai Kowalewski, Michał |
author_sort |
Shen, Bing |
title |
The Avalon Explosion: Evolution of Ediacara Morphospace |
title_short |
The Avalon Explosion: Evolution of Ediacara Morphospace |
title_full |
The Avalon Explosion: Evolution of Ediacara Morphospace |
title_fullStr |
The Avalon Explosion: Evolution of Ediacara Morphospace |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Avalon Explosion: Evolution of Ediacara Morphospace |
title_sort |
avalon explosion: evolution of ediacara morphospace |
publisher |
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1150279 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1150279 |
geographic |
White Sea |
geographic_facet |
White Sea |
genre |
White Sea |
genre_facet |
White Sea |
op_source |
Science volume 319, issue 5859, page 81-84 ISSN 0036-8075 1095-9203 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1150279 |
container_title |
Science |
container_volume |
319 |
container_issue |
5859 |
container_start_page |
81 |
op_container_end_page |
84 |
_version_ |
1811646244579180544 |