Morphology shapes community dynamics in early animal ecosystems.

Autor: Stephenson NP; Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. nps36@cam.ac.uk.; University Museum of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. nps36@cam.ac.uk., Delahooke KM; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK., Barnes N; Independent Researchers., Rideout BWT; Independent Researchers., Kenchington CG; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK., Manica A; Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK., Mitchell EG; Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.; University Museum of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Nature ecology & evolution [Nat Ecol Evol] 2024 Jul; Vol. 8 (7), pp. 1238-1247. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jun 12.
DOI: 10.1038/s41559-024-02422-8
Abstrakt: The driving forces behind the evolution of early metazoans are not well understood, but key insights into their ecology and evolution can be gained through ecological analyses of the in situ, sessile communities of the Avalon assemblage in the Ediacaran (~565 million years ago). Community structure in the Avalon is thought to be underpinned by epifaunal tiering and ecological succession, which we investigate in this study in 18 Avalon communities. Here we found that Avalon communities form four distinctive Community Types irrespective of succession processes, which are instead based on the dominance of morphologically distinct taxa, and that tiering is prevalent in three of these Community Types. Our results are consistent with emergent neutrality, whereby ecologically specialized morphologies evolve as a consequence of neutral (stochastic or reproductive) processes within niches, leading to generalization within the frond-dominated Community Type. Our results provide an ecological signature of the first origination and subsequent loss of disparate morphologies, probably as a consequence of community restructuring in response to ecological innovation. This restructuring led to the survival of non-tiered frondose generalists over tiered specialists, even into the youngest Ediacaran assemblages. Such frondose body plans also survive beyond the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition, perhaps due to the greater resilience afforded to them by their alternative ecological strategies.
(© 2024. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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