C-Rise of the Animals Flashcards

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1
Q

What occurred after the GOE?

A

Nothing for 1 billion years (from 1.7bya until around 750mya)

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2
Q

What were Ediacara biota?

A

The oldest unequivocal animal fossils

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3
Q

After the GOE and before the Cambrian explosion there is fossil evidence for key biological innovations. What were these? (5)

A

Colonial organisms
Macroscopic organisms (Grypania)
Eukaryotic cells (Bangiomorpha, 1.2 Ga), (Ediacara biota)
Multicellularity (Bangiomorpha, 1.2 Ga)
None of these could be interpreted as an animal

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4
Q

What is the importance of bangiomorpha?

A

1st known sexually reproducing organism

Red alga - complex multicellular (eukaryotic)

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5
Q

When was the Cambrian explosion? (supposedly?)

A

540 mya

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6
Q

What does radiata mean?

A

Radial symmetry

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7
Q

What does bilateria mean?

A

Bilateral symmetry

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8
Q

Name the 2 categories of diploblastic radiata.

A

Cnidarians (jellyfish)

Ctenophores (comb-jellies)

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9
Q

Name the 2 categories of triplobastic bilateria.

A

Deuterstomes (echnioderms = starfish, sea urchins) (chordates = mammals, birds, reptiles amphibians)
Protostomes (molluscs = snails/octopuses) (arthropods = spiders/insects) (annelids = segmented worms)

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10
Q

What category is neither triploblastic or diploblastic (or bilateria or radiata)?

A

Porifera (sponges)

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11
Q

What do diploblastic and triploblastic referto?

A

The number of tissue layers
diploblastic = 2 tissue layers
triploblastic = 3 tissue layers

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12
Q

What do diploblastic organisms not have?

A

A mesoderm

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13
Q

What do the a) ectoderm, b)mesoderm and c) endoderm turn into?

A

a) exoskeleton
b) organs
c) inner lining of organs

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14
Q

What is the Metazoa?

A

All animals with a body composed of cells differentiated into tissues an organs, and usual ya digestive cavity lined with specialised cells

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15
Q

What is the Cambrian Explosion?

A

The sudden appearance of unequivocal animals near the base of the Cambrian

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16
Q

What does the scale of the Cambrian Explosion depend on?

A

Whether fossils in the Ediacaran Period (just before the Cambrian) are animls or not

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17
Q

What are the 3 sources of data of the Ediacaran Period?

A

Possible Ediacaran animal embryos
Ediacaran biotas
Neoproterozoic biomineralised fossils

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18
Q

Neoproterozoic (Ediacaran) biomineralised fossils - a) examples and b) what do they suggest? (look at slide 13)

A

a) Sponge spicules, Cloudina, Namacalathus

b) suggestive or poriferean (sponge) and/or cnidarian (jellyfish) grade

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19
Q

Possible Ediacaran animal embryos -

a) where and how old?

A

Doushantuo Formation, China

600 mya

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20
Q

Possible Ediacaran animal embryos -

b) what are they replicated in?

A

Huge variety of different types replicated in calcium phosphate

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21
Q

Possible Ediacaran animal embryos -

c) what different interpretations of them are there? (3)

A

Some interpret them as animal embryos - early development stages
Others as resting cysts of animals - resting/dormant stage to survive unfavourable conditions
Others as resting cysts of non-metazoans, and giant bacteria

22
Q

Possible Ediacaran animal embryos -

d) what is odd about them?

A

No juveniles or adults - other stages in life cycle absent

23
Q

What is a scrippsiela trochoidea?

A

A cyst-forming marine plankton (and type of eukaryotic algae) (spiky looking ball)

24
Q

When did Ediacaran biotas exists and what aged rocks were they found in? When do some rare examples occur?

A

Existed in Ediacaran Period
Found in rocks dated between 585-542 Ma
Some rare examples in Phanerozoic

25
Q

What shapes do Ediacaran biotas come in? (slide 19-22)

A

Different morphologies: enigmatic tubular, discoidal and frond-shaped organisms

26
Q

What is unusual about the preservation of Ediacaran biotas?

A

Often preserved as moulds of external surfaces

27
Q

Are the Ediacaran biotas well understood?

A

No, the affinities are hotly debated

28
Q

What are the different interpretations of Ediacaran biotas?

A

Initial interpretations: focus on them being animals (mawsonites = diploblastic cnidarians (jellyfish)) (Spriggina = arthropod/annelid worm) but absence of diagnostic characteristics
New interpretation: part of separate kingdom (Vendobionta - have pneu structure)

29
Q

What structure do Vendobionta have?

A

A pneu structure (hollow fluid infilled interior)

30
Q

What is taphonomy?

A

Processes of fossilisation

31
Q

There has been reasonable identity on some Ediacaran biotas and they resemble which trace fossils and what feeding technique?

A

Kimbrella and Radulichnus (look like slugs)

Grazing trace fossils that feed on the microbial surface of sediment - suggests it is mollusc

32
Q

What is the current understanding of the Ediacaran Period with relation to animals?

A

Probably a mix of different biological groups, but likely to include biltarians

33
Q

What appears in the Cambrian?

A
Unequivocal examples of Triploblastic bilaterians common from Cambrian onwards
Most phyla (phylum) have 1st occurrence in Cambrian
34
Q

What sources of data are there for the Cambrian explosion?

A

Biomineralised tissues of macroscopic remains
Small Shelly Fossils
Exceptional biotas

35
Q

Give 3 examples of fossilised Cambrian animals.

A

Echinoderms
Trilobites (arthropods)
Brachipods (lophophorate)

36
Q

Small shelly fossils - what type of remains are they?

A

Biomineralised tissues

37
Q

Small shelly fossils - what is there function?

A

Often their function and affinities are unknown

38
Q

Small shelly fossils - give an example.

A

Microdictyon (as body) with Cambroclavus as shield and spines on soft-bodied lobopods (from extinct phylum lobopodia)
hard parts = biomineralised tissues
soft parts = labile tissues

39
Q

Small shelly fossils - the shells had spikes, what does this show?

A

A need for defence suggests predation

40
Q

Exceptional biotas - when were they common and where?

A

In early Phanerozoic (especially Cambrian) in marine environments

41
Q

Exceptional biotas - why do some of them have limited preservation potential?

A

Made solely of highly labile (soft and decay prone) non-biomineralised tissue

42
Q

Exceptional biotas - Case Study - where, when, what, how

A

In Burgess Shale during Middle Cambrian, in Canada
Deeper water setting with series of fossiliferous levels
Exceptional biotas buried in situ below depositing event beds
Incorporated into depositing event beds

43
Q

Why are Exceptional biotas a valuable source of data on biodiversity?

A

Allow inferences as regards ecological structure of marine communities

44
Q

Exceptional biotas - examples and ecological strategies - Olenoides (slide 29)

A

Spines on limbs used for capturing and shredding prey
Chitin protein - protection? - like modern arthropods
Looks like trilobite

45
Q

Exceptional biotas - examples and ecological strategies - Leanchoilia (slide 30)

A

Mid-gut glands replaced in calcium phosphate
Digestive function
Implies macrophagy and predation/scavenging

46
Q

What is macrophagy?

A

Feeding on foods that are large relative to the size of the organism

47
Q

Exceptional biotas - examples and ecological strategies - Anomalocaris (slide 31)

A

‘Pineapple’ shaped jawed arm with ‘blades’

Kind of like shrimp

48
Q

What are Pascichnia?

A

Grazers that create 2D features as they scour the surface of hard or soft substrate in order to obtain nutrients (scrape along surface leaving trail)

49
Q

What does all of this information say about Cambrian marine communities in terms of ecological strategies?

A

Predation and filter feeding important eco strategy

Deposit feeding less important

50
Q

What is a deposit feeder?

A

An aquatic animal that feeds on small specks of organic matter that have drifted and settled on the bottom of the seafloor

51
Q

What evidence proves that predation and filter feeding was more important than deposit feeding in Cambrian marine communities?

A

Consistent with trace fossil evidence
Hunting burrows
Pascichnia rare in Cambrian settings