Ediacaran biozones identified with network analysis provide evidence for pulsed extinctions of early complex life.

ABSTRACT: Rocks of Ediacaran age (~635-541 Ma) contain the oldest fossils of large, complex organisms and their behaviors. These fossils document developmental and ecological innovations, and suggest that extinctions helped to shape the trajectory of early animal evolution. Conventional methods divide Ediacaran macrofossil localities into taxonomically distinct clusters, which may represent evolutionary, environmental, or preservational variation. Here, we investigate these possibilities with network analysis of body and trace fossil occurrences. By partitioning multipartite networks of taxa, paleoenvironments, and geologic formations into community units, we distinguish between biostratigraphic zones and paleoenvironmentally restricted biotopes, and provide empirically robust and statistically sign

SUBMITTER: Muscente AD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6384941 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature