The Latest Ediacaran Wormworld Fauna: Setting the Ecological Stage for the Cambrian Explosion

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James D. Schiffbauer³  Yaoping Cai²  Simon A.F. Darroch⁴  Marc Laflamme¹  John Warren Huntley³  Gretchen R. O&rsquoNeil³ 

[1] Dept. of Chemical and Physical Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario L5L 1C6, Canada$$;State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics and Dept. of Geology, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710069, China$$;Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211, USA$$;Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37235, USA$$

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DOI  :  10.1130/GSATG265A.1

学科分类：地质学

来源: Geological Society of America

【 摘 要 】

As signposted by the fossil record, the early Cambrian periodchronicles the appearance and evolutionary diversification of most animal phylain a geologically rapid event, traditionally termed the Cambrian Explosion. Theuniqueness of this event pleads for a cause, and over the years, numerousbiotic and abiotic factors have been offered as possible triggers. Many suchexplanations, however, either fail to correspond in time or do not provide afunctional mechanism to explain the evolutionary pattern of animaldiversification. We support the notion that a series of requisite biotic andabiotic events ushered in the Cambrian Explosion, wherein each event wasnecessary for the implementation of later events but did not guarantee theiroccurrence. The evolution of the terminal Ediacaran vermiform fauna wasintegral in the construction of the Eltonian pyramid, fostered an escalation ofecosystem engineering and macropredation, and represented a turning point inbenthic ecosystems from those governed primarily by competition for space andresources to those also shaped by these novel pressures.

【 授权许可】

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