Ediacaran marine animal forests and the ventilation of the oceans
The rise of animals across the Ediacaran–Cambrian transition marked a step-change in the history of life, from a microbially-dominated world to the complex macroscopic biosphere we see today. While the importance of bioturbation and swimming in altering the structure and function of Earth systems is...
| Những tác giả chính: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Định dạng: | Journal article |
| Ngôn ngữ: | English |
| Được phát hành: |
Cell Press
2024
|
| _version_ | 1826313485439467520 |
|---|---|
| author | Gutarra, S Mitchell, EG Dunn, F Gibson, BM Racicot, RA Darroch, SAF Rahman, I |
| author_facet | Gutarra, S Mitchell, EG Dunn, F Gibson, BM Racicot, RA Darroch, SAF Rahman, I |
| author_sort | Gutarra, S |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | The rise of animals across the Ediacaran–Cambrian transition marked a step-change in the
history of life, from a microbially-dominated world to the complex macroscopic biosphere
we see today. While the importance of bioturbation and swimming in altering the structure
and function of Earth systems is well established, the influence of epifaunal animals on the
hydrodynamics of marine environments is not well understood. Of particular interest are the
oldest ‘marine animal forests’, which comprise a diversity of sessile soft-bodied organisms
dominated by the fractally-branching rangeomorphs. Typified by fossil assemblages from
the Ediacaran of Mistaken Point, Newfoundland, these ancient communities might have
played a pivotal role in structuring marine environments, similar to modern ecosystems,
but our understanding of how they impacted fluid flow in the water column is limited. Here,
we use ecological modelling and computational flow simulations to explore how Ediacaran
marine animal forests influenced their surrounding environment. Our results reveal how
organism morphology and community structure and composition combined to impact vertical
mixing of the surrounding water. We find that Mistaken Point communities were capable of
generating high-mixing conditions, thereby likely promoting gas and nutrient transport within
the ‘canopy’. This mixing could have served to enhance local-scale oxygen concentrations
and redistribute resources like dissolved organic carbon. Our work suggests that Ediacaran
marine animal forests may have contributed to the ventilation of the oceans over 560 million
years ago, well before the Cambrian explosion of animals. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:15:52Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:a75e926e-ea04-4f05-82c4-b9d4bedf983e |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:15:52Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Cell Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:a75e926e-ea04-4f05-82c4-b9d4bedf983e2024-07-17T13:07:42ZEdiacaran marine animal forests and the ventilation of the oceansJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:a75e926e-ea04-4f05-82c4-b9d4bedf983eEnglishSymplectic ElementsCell Press2024Gutarra, SMitchell, EGDunn, FGibson, BMRacicot, RADarroch, SAFRahman, IThe rise of animals across the Ediacaran–Cambrian transition marked a step-change in the history of life, from a microbially-dominated world to the complex macroscopic biosphere we see today. While the importance of bioturbation and swimming in altering the structure and function of Earth systems is well established, the influence of epifaunal animals on the hydrodynamics of marine environments is not well understood. Of particular interest are the oldest ‘marine animal forests’, which comprise a diversity of sessile soft-bodied organisms dominated by the fractally-branching rangeomorphs. Typified by fossil assemblages from the Ediacaran of Mistaken Point, Newfoundland, these ancient communities might have played a pivotal role in structuring marine environments, similar to modern ecosystems, but our understanding of how they impacted fluid flow in the water column is limited. Here, we use ecological modelling and computational flow simulations to explore how Ediacaran marine animal forests influenced their surrounding environment. Our results reveal how organism morphology and community structure and composition combined to impact vertical mixing of the surrounding water. We find that Mistaken Point communities were capable of generating high-mixing conditions, thereby likely promoting gas and nutrient transport within the ‘canopy’. This mixing could have served to enhance local-scale oxygen concentrations and redistribute resources like dissolved organic carbon. Our work suggests that Ediacaran marine animal forests may have contributed to the ventilation of the oceans over 560 million years ago, well before the Cambrian explosion of animals. |
| spellingShingle | Gutarra, S Mitchell, EG Dunn, F Gibson, BM Racicot, RA Darroch, SAF Rahman, I Ediacaran marine animal forests and the ventilation of the oceans |
| title | Ediacaran marine animal forests and the ventilation of the oceans |
| title_full | Ediacaran marine animal forests and the ventilation of the oceans |
| title_fullStr | Ediacaran marine animal forests and the ventilation of the oceans |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ediacaran marine animal forests and the ventilation of the oceans |
| title_short | Ediacaran marine animal forests and the ventilation of the oceans |
| title_sort | ediacaran marine animal forests and the ventilation of the oceans |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gutarras ediacaranmarineanimalforestsandtheventilationoftheoceans AT mitchelleg ediacaranmarineanimalforestsandtheventilationoftheoceans AT dunnf ediacaranmarineanimalforestsandtheventilationoftheoceans AT gibsonbm ediacaranmarineanimalforestsandtheventilationoftheoceans AT racicotra ediacaranmarineanimalforestsandtheventilationoftheoceans AT darrochsaf ediacaranmarineanimalforestsandtheventilationoftheoceans AT rahmani ediacaranmarineanimalforestsandtheventilationoftheoceans |