Food sources for the Ediacara biota communities

The Ediacara biota represents the first complex macroscopic organisms in the geological record, foreshadowing the radiation of eumetazoan animals in the Cambrian explosion. However, little is known about the contingencies that lead to their emergence, including the possible roles of nutrient availab...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2020-03, Vol.11 (1), p.1261-1261, Article 1261
Main Authors: Bobrovskiy, Ilya, Hope, Janet M., Golubkova, Elena, Brocks, Jochen J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/181/2481
631/181/414
704/2151/209
704/47/4113
Abundance
Algae
Animals
Bacteria
Biological Evolution
Biomarkers
Biota
Cambrian
Carbon Cycle
Ecology
Ecosystem
Food
Food availability
Food quality
Food sources
Fossils
Geologic Sediments - chemistry
Hopanes
Humanities and Social Sciences
multidisciplinary
Nutrient availability
Nutrient sources
Nutrients
Organisms
Paleontology
Radiation
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Sediments
Thoracica - physiology
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Summary:The Ediacara biota represents the first complex macroscopic organisms in the geological record, foreshadowing the radiation of eumetazoan animals in the Cambrian explosion. However, little is known about the contingencies that lead to their emergence, including the possible roles of nutrient availability and the quality of food sources. Here we present information on primary producers in the Ediacaran based on biomarker molecules that were extracted from sediments hosting Ediacaran macrofossils. High relative abundances of algal steranes over bacterial hopanes suggest that the Ediacara biota inhabited nutrient replete environments with an abundance of algal food sources comparable to Phanerozoic ecosystems. Thus, organisms of the Ediacara biota inhabited nutrient-rich environments akin to those that later fuelled the Cambrian explosion. Complex macroscopic organisms are first found in the Ediacaran period, but their ecology during this time is not well understood. Here, Bobrovskiy et al. analyse biomarkers from Ediacaran sediments hosting macrofossils and find evidence for abundant algal food sources available for these organisms.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-020-15063-9