Branching archaeocyaths as ecosystem engineers during the Cambrian radiation

Maloof, Adam C.; Kaandorp, Jaap A.; Webster, Mark

doi:10.1111/gbi.12521

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 127 publications

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“…During the early Cambrian, a dramatic increase in encrusting metazoans occurred, which facilitated a rich diversity of reefs. Within this period, archaeocyaths are the most well-known metazoan reef builders (McKerrow et al, 1992;Manzuk et al, 2022) but additional framework builders such as radiocyaths (Kruse et al, 1996) and coralomorphs (Hicks, 2006) were also present. These early Cambrian archaeocyath reefs were widely distributed and can today be found in modern China (Hicks and Rowland, 2009), Canada (Pruss et al, 2012), USA (Pruss et al, 2019), Italy (Gandin et al, 2007), and Russia (Kruse et al, 1995) to name a few.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Miaolingian and Furongian environmental impacts on reef building and carbonate environments: a model for consideration

Cordie¹

2023

Preprint

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Situated between two prominent radiation events, the late Cambrian is understudied due to its lack of rock record, complex marine geochemical record, and low biodiversity. The study of reef evolution during this interval has also received less focus than surrounding intervals because of the lack of metazoan-based reefs, though microbial reefs are prevalent. However, the late Cambrian can provide valuable insights into the environmental controls on early reef development. Using fossil occurrences from the Paleobiology Database, Paleoreef Database, and a review of the primary literature, this study attempts to provide context for the conditions that may have influenced reef development in the Miaolingian and Furongian. Marine dissolved oxygen levels are the primary driver of reef diversity during this period, but ocean acidity, temperature, marine regression, nutrient load, and lack of supporting deep-water habitats may all have impacted metazoan reefs during the late Cambrian. A model is here proposed which suggests that metazoan reef abundances were low during the late Cambrian because of initial surface water anoxia that caused the extinction of metazoan reef builders in the late-early Cambrian, followed by exclusion of metazoans from reef environments due to deep water anoxia and marine regression. These inhibiting conditions were not necessarily concurrent but did collectively inhibit the growth of metazoan reefs until transgression in the Early Ordovician opened more shelf space for new reef development. This model provides a first step in exploration of these conditions during the late Cambrian and for reef development in general.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Miaolingian and Furongian environmental impacts on reef building and carbonate environments: a model for consideration

Cordie¹

2023

Preprint

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Analysis of the environmental impacts affecting Cambrian reef building and carbonate settings during the Miaolingian and Furongian epochs: A hypothesis for consideration

Cordie

2023

Evolving Earth

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How to engineer a habitable planet: the rise of marine ecosystem engineers through the Phanerozoic

Cribb,

Darroch

2024

Palaeontology

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Ecosystem engineers are organisms that modify their physical habitats in a way that alters resource availability and the structure of the communities they live in. The evolution of ecosystem engineers over the course of Earth history has thus been suggested to have been a driver of macroevolutionary and macroecological changes that are observed in the fossil record. However, the rise to dominance of ecosystem engineers has not been thoroughly reconstructed. Here, we investigate the history of bioturbation and reef‐building (two of the most important marine ecosystem engineering behaviours today) over the Phanerozoic. Using fossil occurrences from the Paleobiology Database, we reconstruct how common communities influenced by ecosystem engineers were in the oceans, how dominant ecosystem engineers were within their own communities, and the taxonomic and ecological composition of bioturbators and reef‐builders. We find that bioturbation has become an increasingly common ecosystem engineering behaviour over the Phanerozoic, while reef‐building ecosystem engineers have not become more dominant since their Devonian apex. We also identify unique bioturbation and reef‐building regimes that are characterized by different ecosystem engineering taxonomic groups, ecological modes, and dominance, suggesting that the nature of ecosystem engineering has at times rapidly shifted over the course of the Phanerozoic. These reconstructions will serve as important data for understanding how ecosystem engineers have driven changes in biodiversity and ecosystem structure over the course of Earth history.

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Branching archaeocyaths as ecosystem engineers during the Cambrian radiation

Cited by 3 publications

References 127 publications

Miaolingian and Furongian environmental impacts on reef building and carbonate environments: a model for consideration

Miaolingian and Furongian environmental impacts on reef building and carbonate environments: a model for consideration

Analysis of the environmental impacts affecting Cambrian reef building and carbonate settings during the Miaolingian and Furongian epochs: A hypothesis for consideration

How to engineer a habitable planet: the rise of marine ecosystem engineers through the Phanerozoic

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