Multiscale approach reveals that Cloudina aggregates are detritus and not in situ reef constructions.

ABSTRACT: The earliest metazoans capable of biomineralization appeared during the late Ediacaran Period (635-541 Ma) in strata associated with shallow water microbial reefs. It has been suggested that some Ediacaran microbial reefs were dominated (and possibly built) by an abundant and globally distributed tubular organism known as Cloudina If true, this interpretation implies that metazoan framework reef building-a complex behavior that is responsible for some of the largest bioconstructions and most diverse environments in modern oceans-emerged much earlier than previously thought. Here, we present 3D reconstructions of Cloudina populations, produced using an automated serial grinding and imaging system coupled with a recently developed neural network image classifier. Our reconstruc

SUBMITTER: Mehra A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5856547 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature