Fossil Biomarkers and Biosignatures Preserved in Coprolites Reveal Carnivorous Diets in the Carboniferous Mazon Creek Ecosystem.

ABSTRACT: The reconstruction of ancient trophic networks is pivotal to our understanding of ecosystem function and change through time. However, inferring dietary relationships in enigmatic ecosystems dominated by organisms without modern analogues, such as the Carboniferous Mazon Creek fauna, has previously been considered challenging: preserved coprolites often do not retain sufficient morphology to identify the dietary composition. Here, we analysed n = 3 Mazon Creek coprolites in concretions for dietary signals in preserved biomarkers, stable carbon isotope data, and macromolecular composition. Cholesteroids, metazoan markers of cholesterol, show an increased abundance in the sampled coprolites (86 to 99% of the total steranes) compared to the surrounding sediment, indicating an endogenou

SUBMITTER: Tripp M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9495973 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature