Quantifying the Evolution of Early Life
Numerical Approaches to the Evaluation of Fossils and Ancient Ecosystems
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James D. Schiffbauer
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Release the crackin': The influence of brittle behavior on gas retention in crystal-rich magma
Crystal-rich silicic lavas commonly erupt from hazardous lava dome-forming volcanoes, characterized by both effusive and explosive eruptions. Magma explosivity is inherently dependent on its ability to store p...
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Open AccessThe exceptional preservation of Aix-en-Provence spider fossils could have been facilitated by diatoms
Much of our understanding of the history of life on Earth comes from fossil sites with exceptional preservation. Here, we use microscopy and chemical analysis of spiders found in the Oligocene Aix-en-Provence ...
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Open AccessPreservation of early Tonian macroalgal fossils from the Dolores Creek Formation, Yukon
The rise of eukaryotic macroalgae in the late Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic was a critical development in Earth’s history that triggered dramatic changes in biogeochemical cycles and benthic habitats...
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Open AccessGlobal controls on phosphatization of fossils during the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event
Konservat-Lagerstätten—deposits with exceptionally preserved fossils—vary in abundance across geographic and stratigraphic space due to paleoenvironmental heterogeneity. While oceanic anoxic events (OAEs) may ...
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The Fossil Record of Parasitism: Its Extent and Taphonomic Constraints
The fossil record of parasites is limited thus far. A survey of the fossil record shows that some modes of preservation show a higher potential for the preservation of parasitic remains or parasite–host associ...
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Re-description of the Spence Shale palaeoscolecids in light of new morphological features with comments on palaeoscolecid taxonomy and taphonomy
The middle Cambrian (Miaolingian Series; Wuliuan Stage) Spence Shale of Utah and Idaho preserves a diverse assemblage of biomineralized and soft-bodied taxa. Among the rarest specimens of this fauna are palaeo...
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Micro-CT Quantitative Evaluation of Graphite Nodules in SGI
The quality of spheroidal graphite cast iron (SGI) castings is directly related to the morphology of graphite nodules. Therefore, accurate and comprehensive quantitative evaluation of microstructure is critica...
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Open AccessUltrastructure of Ediacaran cloudinids suggests diverse taphonomic histories and affinities with non-biomineralized annelids
Cloudinids have long been considered the earliest biomineralizing metazoans, but their affinities have remained contentious and undetermined. Based on well-preserved ultrastructures of two taxa, we here propos...
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Open AccessDiscovery of bilaterian-type through-guts in cloudinomorphs from the terminal Ediacaran Period
The fossil record of the terminal Ediacaran Period is typified by the iconic index fossil Cloudina and its relatives. These tube-dwellers are presumed to be primitive metazoans, but resolving their phylogenetic i...
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The Yudomski event and subsequent decline: new evidence from δ34S data of lower and middle Cambrian evaporites in the Tarim Basin, western China
Marine evaporitic sulfates (gypsum and anhydrite) can record ancient seawater sulfur isotopic data; however, these records are scarce and widely dispersed owing to both restricted environments in which they fo...
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Open AccessEdiacaran biozones identified with network analysis provide evidence for pulsed extinctions of early complex life
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 he...
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A unifying model for Neoproterozoic–Palaeozoic exceptional fossil preservation through pyritization and carbonaceous compression
Soft-tissue fossils capture exquisite biological detail and provide our clearest views onto the rise of animals across the Ediacaran–Cambrian transition. The processes contributing to fossilization of soft tis...
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Exceptional three-dimensional preservation and coloration of an originally iridescent fossil feather from the Middle Eocene Messel Oil Shale
A feather from the Eocene Messel Formation, Germany, has been demonstrated to have been originally structurally colored by densely packed sheets of melanosomes similar to modern iridescent feathers exhibiting ...
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Paleobiological Applications of Focused Ion Beam Electron Microscopy (FIB-EM): An Ultrastructural Approach to the (Micro)Fossil Record
Coupled dual-beam focused ion beam electron microscopy (FIB-EM) has gained popularity across multiple disciplines over the past decade. Widely utilized as a stand-alone instrument for micromachining and metal-...
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Microfossil Phosphatization and Its Astrobiological Implications
One of the major tasks of astrobiology is to critically examine evidence of past or present ecosystems beyond our planet. As Earth is the only planet that is known to have hosted life, perhaps as early as 3.8–...
