Morphometric analysis of Skiagia-plexus acritarchs from the early Cambrian of North Greenland : toward a meaningful evaluation of phenotypic plasticity.
The Cambrian evolutionary radiations are marked by spectacular biotic turnovers and the establishment of increasingly tiered food chains. At the base of these food chains are primary producers, which in the Cambrian fossil record are chiefly represented among organic-walled microfossils. The majorit...
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Uppsala universitet, Paleobiologi
2022
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Online Access: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-437978 https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2022.12 |
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ftuppsalauniv:oai:DiVA.org:uu-437978 2024-02-11T10:04:16+01:00 Morphometric analysis of Skiagia-plexus acritarchs from the early Cambrian of North Greenland : toward a meaningful evaluation of phenotypic plasticity. Wallet, Elise Slater, Ben Willman, Sebastian 2022 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-437978 https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2022.12 eng eng Uppsala universitet, Paleobiologi Cambridge University Press (CUP) Paleobiology, 0094-8373, 2022, 48:4, s. 576-600 orcid:0000-0002-5796-0139 orcid:0000-0002-5774-9114 orcid:0000-0002-1434-7131 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-437978 doi:10.1017/pab.2022.12 ISI:000797721100001 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Acritarchs organic-walled microfossils morphometry taxonomy Skiagia Cambrian biostratigraphy Greenland diversity Other Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Annan geovetenskap och miljövetenskap Article in journal info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2022 ftuppsalauniv https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2022.12 2024-01-17T23:32:06Z The Cambrian evolutionary radiations are marked by spectacular biotic turnovers and the establishment of increasingly tiered food chains. At the base of these food chains are primary producers, which in the Cambrian fossil record are chiefly represented among organic-walled microfossils. The majority of these microfossil remains have traditionally been attributed to an informal category of incertae sedis called “acritarchs,” based entirely on form taxonomy. Acritarch form taxa have been intensely used for biostratigraphy and in large-scale studies of phytoplankton diversity. However, both prospects have been challenged by cases of taxonomic inconsistencies and oversplitting arising from the large phenotypic plasticity seen among these microfossils. The acritarch form genus Skiagia stands as an ideal case study to explore these taxonomic challenges, because it encompasses a number of form species widely used in lower Cambrian biostratigraphy. Moreover, subtle morphological differences among Skiagia species were suggested to underlie key evolutionary innovations toward complex reproductive strategies. Here we apply a multivariate morphometric approach to investigate the morphological variation of Skiagia-plexus acritarchs using an assemblage sourced from the Buen Formation (Cambrian Series 2, Stages 3–4) of North Greenland. Our analysis showed that the species-level classification of Skiagia discretizes a continuous spectrum of morphologies. While these findings bring important taxonomic and biostratigraphic hurdles to light, the unequal frequency distribution of life cycle stages among Skiagia species suggests that certain elements of phytoplankton paleobiology are nonetheless captured by Skiagia form taxonomy. These results demonstrate the value of using morphometric tools to explore acritarch phenotypic plasticity and its potential ontogenetic and paleoecological drivers in Cambrian ecosystems. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland North Greenland Uppsala University: Publications (DiVA) Greenland Paleobiology 48 4 576 600 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Uppsala University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftuppsalauniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Acritarchs organic-walled microfossils morphometry taxonomy Skiagia Cambrian biostratigraphy Greenland diversity Other Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Annan geovetenskap och miljövetenskap |
spellingShingle |
Acritarchs organic-walled microfossils morphometry taxonomy Skiagia Cambrian biostratigraphy Greenland diversity Other Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Annan geovetenskap och miljövetenskap Wallet, Elise Slater, Ben Willman, Sebastian Morphometric analysis of Skiagia-plexus acritarchs from the early Cambrian of North Greenland : toward a meaningful evaluation of phenotypic plasticity. |
topic_facet |
Acritarchs organic-walled microfossils morphometry taxonomy Skiagia Cambrian biostratigraphy Greenland diversity Other Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Annan geovetenskap och miljövetenskap |
description |
The Cambrian evolutionary radiations are marked by spectacular biotic turnovers and the establishment of increasingly tiered food chains. At the base of these food chains are primary producers, which in the Cambrian fossil record are chiefly represented among organic-walled microfossils. The majority of these microfossil remains have traditionally been attributed to an informal category of incertae sedis called “acritarchs,” based entirely on form taxonomy. Acritarch form taxa have been intensely used for biostratigraphy and in large-scale studies of phytoplankton diversity. However, both prospects have been challenged by cases of taxonomic inconsistencies and oversplitting arising from the large phenotypic plasticity seen among these microfossils. The acritarch form genus Skiagia stands as an ideal case study to explore these taxonomic challenges, because it encompasses a number of form species widely used in lower Cambrian biostratigraphy. Moreover, subtle morphological differences among Skiagia species were suggested to underlie key evolutionary innovations toward complex reproductive strategies. Here we apply a multivariate morphometric approach to investigate the morphological variation of Skiagia-plexus acritarchs using an assemblage sourced from the Buen Formation (Cambrian Series 2, Stages 3–4) of North Greenland. Our analysis showed that the species-level classification of Skiagia discretizes a continuous spectrum of morphologies. While these findings bring important taxonomic and biostratigraphic hurdles to light, the unequal frequency distribution of life cycle stages among Skiagia species suggests that certain elements of phytoplankton paleobiology are nonetheless captured by Skiagia form taxonomy. These results demonstrate the value of using morphometric tools to explore acritarch phenotypic plasticity and its potential ontogenetic and paleoecological drivers in Cambrian ecosystems. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wallet, Elise Slater, Ben Willman, Sebastian |
author_facet |
Wallet, Elise Slater, Ben Willman, Sebastian |
author_sort |
Wallet, Elise |
title |
Morphometric analysis of Skiagia-plexus acritarchs from the early Cambrian of North Greenland : toward a meaningful evaluation of phenotypic plasticity. |
title_short |
Morphometric analysis of Skiagia-plexus acritarchs from the early Cambrian of North Greenland : toward a meaningful evaluation of phenotypic plasticity. |
title_full |
Morphometric analysis of Skiagia-plexus acritarchs from the early Cambrian of North Greenland : toward a meaningful evaluation of phenotypic plasticity. |
title_fullStr |
Morphometric analysis of Skiagia-plexus acritarchs from the early Cambrian of North Greenland : toward a meaningful evaluation of phenotypic plasticity. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Morphometric analysis of Skiagia-plexus acritarchs from the early Cambrian of North Greenland : toward a meaningful evaluation of phenotypic plasticity. |
title_sort |
morphometric analysis of skiagia-plexus acritarchs from the early cambrian of north greenland : toward a meaningful evaluation of phenotypic plasticity. |
publisher |
Uppsala universitet, Paleobiologi |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-437978 https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2022.12 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland North Greenland |
genre_facet |
Greenland North Greenland |
op_relation |
Paleobiology, 0094-8373, 2022, 48:4, s. 576-600 orcid:0000-0002-5796-0139 orcid:0000-0002-5774-9114 orcid:0000-0002-1434-7131 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-437978 doi:10.1017/pab.2022.12 ISI:000797721100001 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2022.12 |
container_title |
Paleobiology |
container_volume |
48 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
576 |
op_container_end_page |
600 |
_version_ |
1790600844642615296 |