TEM evidence for eukaryotic diversity in mid‐Proterozoic oceans

@article{Javaux2004TEMEF,
  title={TEM evidence for eukaryotic diversity in mid‐Proterozoic oceans},
  author={Emmanuelle J. Javaux and Andrew H. Knoll and Malcolm R. Walter},
  journal={Geobiology},
  year={2004},
  volume={2},
  pages={121-132}
}
Biomarker molecular fossils in 2770 Ma shales suggest that the Eucarya diverged from other principal domains early in Earth history. Nonetheless, at present, the oldest fossils that can be assigned to an extant eukaryotic clade are filamentous red algae preserved in ca. 1200 Ma cherts from Arctic Canada. Between these records lies a rich assortment of potentially protistan microfossils. Combined light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy on 1500-1400 Ma… Expand
View via Publisher
aca.unsw.edu.au
193 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
26
Background Citations
70
Methods Citations
12
Results Citations
2

Figures and Tables from this paper

193 Citations

Citation Type

Citation Type

Paleobiological perspectives on early eukaryotic evolution.
  • A. Knoll
  • Biology, Medicine
  • Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology
  • 2014
TLDR
Protists continued to diversify along with animals in the more pervasively oxygenated oceans of the Phanerozoic Eon, and the Mid-Neoproterozoic establishment or expansion of eukaryophagy provides a possible mechanism for accelerating eUKaryotic diversification long after the origin of the domain. Expand
Eukaryotic organisms in Proterozoic oceans
TLDR
Focus on character evolution permits inferences about the innovations in cell biology and development that underpin the taxonomic and morphological diversification of eukaryotic organisms. Expand
Micropaleontology of the lower Mesoproterozoic Roper Group, Australia, and implications for early eukaryotic evolution
TLDR
Roper fossils provide direct or inferential evidence for many basic features of eukaryotic biology, including a dynamic cytoskeleton and membrane system that enabled cells to change shape, life cycles that include resting cysts coated by decay-resistant biopolymers, reproduction by budding and binary division, osmotrophy, and simple multicellularity. Expand
The early eukaryotic fossil record.
  • E. Javaux
  • Biology, Medicine
  • Advances in experimental medicine and biology
  • 2007
TLDR
The record of biological innovations documented by the fossils shows that eukaryotes had evolved most cytological and molecular complexities very early in the Proterozoic but environmental conditions delayed their diversification within clades until oxygen level and predation pressure increased significantly. Expand
Microfossils from the late Mesoproterozoic – early Neoproterozoic Atar/El Mreïti Group, Taoudeni Basin, Mauritania, northwestern Africa
Abstract The well-preserved Meso-Neoproterozoic shallow marine succession of the Atar/El Mreiti Group, in the Taoudeni Basin, Mauritania, offers a unique opportunity to investigate the… Expand
Organic-walled microfossils of the mid-Neoproterozoic Alinya Formation, Officer Basin, Australia
Abstract. Estimates of Precambrian eukaryotic diversity and disparity indicate broad trends of increase in the Mesoproterozoic Era, leading to a peak and then rapid decline by ca. 750 Ma. The… Expand
Eukaryotic red and green algae populated the tropical ocean 1400 million years ago
Abstract Both molecular clocks and the fossil record indicate that eukaryotic algae evolved by the late Paleoproterozoic Era (2500 to 1600 million years ago, Ma). However, the biomarker record of… Expand
Remarkably preserved prokaryote and eukaryote microfossils within 1Ga-old lake phosphates of the Torridon Group, NW Scotland
Abstract The ∼1000 Ma Torridon Group of northwest Scotland are here shown to contain a rich diversity of organic walled microfossils preserved in exceptional detail within sedimentary phosphate. The… Expand
Wall ultrastructure of an Ediacaran acritarch from the Officer Basin, Australia
TLDR
Well-preserved organic-walled microfossils referred to as acritarchs occur abundantly in Ediacaran deposits in the Officer Basin in Australia and a set of features suggests closer relationship to green algae than dinoflagellates. Expand
Absence of biomarker evidence for early eukaryotic life from the Mesoproterozoic Roper Group: Searching across a marine redox gradient in mid‐Proterozoic habitability
TLDR
One of the first integrated investigations of Mesoproterozoic biomarker records performed in parallel with established inorganic redox proxy indicators reveals a temporally variable paleoredox structure through the Velkerri Formation as gauged from iron mineral speciation and trace-metal geochemistry, vacillating between oxic and anoxic. Expand
...
1
2
3
4
5
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 55 REFERENCES
Archean molecular fossils and the early rise of eukaryotes.
TLDR
The presence of steranes, particularly cholestane and its 28- to 30-carbon analogs, provides persuasive evidence for the existence of eukaryotes 500 million to 1 billion years before the extant fossil record indicates that the lineage arose. Expand
Recognizing and Interpreting the Fossils of Early Eukaryotes
TLDR
Recognition of eukaryotic fossils in Proterozoic rocks is key to the integration of geological and comparative biological perspectives on protistan evolution. Expand
Morphological and ecological complexity in early eukaryotic ecosystems
TLDR
It is shown that the cytoskeletal and ecological prerequisites for eukaryotic diversification were already established in eukARYotic microorganisms fossilized nearly 1,500 Myr ago in shales of the early Mesoproterozoic Roper Group in northern Australia. Expand
MACROSCOPIC CARBONACEOUS COMPRESSIONS IN A TERMINAL PROTEROZOIC SHALE: A SYSTEMATIC REASSESSMENT OF THE MIAOHE BIOTA, SOUTH CHINA
Abstract Carbonaceous compression fossils in shales of the uppermost Doushantuo Formation (ca. 555–590 Ma) at Miaohe in the Yangtze Gorges area provide a rare Burgess-Shale-type taphonomic window on… Expand
Paleobiology of the Neoproterozoic Svanbergfjellet Formation, Spitsbergen
TLDR
A review of Proterozoic multicellular organisms reveals that a coenocytic grade of organization was common among early metaphytes and supports the view (that a cellularity is a derived condition in many ‘multicellular’ lineages). Expand
Neoproterozoic Fossils in Mesoproterozoic Rocks? Chemostratigraphic Resolution of a Biostratigraphic Conundrum from the North China Platform
Abstract Siliciclastic rocks of the Ruyang Group, southern Shanxi, and the broadly equivalent Gaoshanhe Group, Shaanxi, contain exceptionally well-preserved, large (O ≈ 150 μm) acanthomorphic… Expand
Biodiversity, speciation, and extinction trends of Proterozoic and Cambrian phytoplankton
The degradation-resistant organic-walled cell envelopes of acritarchs are the most abundant microfossils in Proterozoic and Cambrian rocks. These microfossils reveal diversity fluctuations that… Expand
The molecular ecology of microbial eukaryotes unveils a hidden world.
TLDR
These initial studies suggest that a wide diversity of small eukaryotes remains to be discovered not only in the ocean but also in other environments, and it is predicted that environmental molecular identification of eucaryotes will have a profound impact in the immediate future. Expand
Actualistic taphonomy of cyanobacteria; implications for the Precambrian fossil record
Actualistic taphonomy can elucidate aspects of the fossil record that would otherwise be uninterpretable. Investigation of taphonomic alteration patterns in modern cyanobacteria permits evaluation of… Expand
Biological affinities of Neoproterozoic acritarchs from Australia: microscopic and chemical characterisation
Abstract A range of well-preserved Neoproterozoic acanthomorph and sphaeromorph acritarchs from the Australian Centralian Superbasin have been individually analysed by combined microscopic and… Expand
...
1
2
3
4
5
...