NSFGEO-NERC: Ancient life in moving fluids: elucidating the emergence of animal ecosystems
Lead Research Organisation:
Natural History Museum
Department Name: Earth Sciences
Abstract
The emergence of animal ecosystems during the late Ediacaran (~571-539 million years ago) was a pivotal episode in the evolutionary history of life. However, most of these Ediacaran organisms disappeared immediately before the Cambrian, in what may represent the first mass extinction of complex life. There are thus two key questions that will provide fundamental insights into the origins of modern ecosystems: 1) where do Ediacaran organisms fit in the tree of life? And, 2) what drove their extinction prior to the onset of the Cambrian? We will address these questions by combining new data collected during fieldwork with computer simulations performed on both individual organisms and whole communities. This project will improve knowledge of the early evolution of complex ecosystems, while at the same time pioneering the development of a rigorous new approach for examining how marine organisms evolved in response to moving fluids. We will work together with local school teachers to produce learning modules focused on 3-D modelling and fluid dynamics, suitable for communicating key evolutionary principals to students (16-18 years old) in the UK and USA.
Publications
Bicknell RDC
(2023)
Raptorial appendages of the Cambrian apex predator Anomalocaris canadensis are built for soft prey and speed.
in Proceedings. Biological sciences
Darroch S
(2022)
The life and times of Pteridinium simplex
in Paleobiology
Darroch SAF
(2023)
The rangeomorph Pectinifrons abyssalis: Hydrodynamic function at the dawn of animal life.
in iScience
Dunn F
(2022)
A crown-group cnidarian from the Ediacaran of Charnwood Forest, UK
in Nature Ecology & Evolution
Gibson BM
(2023)
Reconstructing the feeding ecology of Cambrian sponge reefs: the case for active suspension feeding in Archaeocyatha.
in Royal Society open science
Gutarra S
(2024)
Ediacaran marine animal forests and the ventilation of the oceans.
in Current biology : CB
Olaru A
(2024)
Functional morphology of the Ediacaran organism Tribrachidium heraldicum
in Paleobiology
Turk K
(2024)
Priapulid neoichnology, ecosystem engineering, and the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition
in Palaeontology
Turk KA
(2024)
Himatiichnus mangano igen. et isp. nov., a scalidophoran trace fossil from the late Ediacaran of Namibia.
in Royal Society open science
Related Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Award Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NE/V010859/1 | 30/09/2020 | 29/06/2021 | £240,344 | ||
| NE/V010859/2 | Transfer | NE/V010859/1 | 30/06/2021 | 29/09/2023 | £195,507 |
| Description | The emergence of animals during the late Ediacaran (~571-539 million years ago) was a pivotal episode in the evolutionary history of life. Reconstructing the ecology of Ediacaran organisms is thus crucial for establishing their role in Earth's first animal ecosystems. However, many aspects of Ediacaran ecology are uncertain, hampering efforts to decipher the origins of modern marine ecosystems. To address this, we constructed 3-D digital models of >25 Ediacaran taxa, which were used in computer simulations of fluid flow. The results are shedding new light on the ecology of Ediacaran organisms. We have found evidence for a diversity and abundance of late Ediacaran suspension feeders, suggesting an energy link between pelagic and benthic realms (a key part of modern ecosystems) was established over 550 million years ago. In addition, we have developed a new hypothesis for the palaeobiology of Ediacaran rangeomorphs, inferring that fronds were adaptations for gas exchange, rather than feeding. Lastly, we have extended our work from simulations of individual taxa to multi-species communities, showing that the earliest animal communities were capable of modifying their environment more than 560 million years ago. |
| Exploitation Route | All the data arising from our work, including 3D models and CFD simulation files, have been (and will continue to be) made freely available alongside publications. These data are thus available for other scientists to use as part of their own research. They could also be used by educators to teach topics such as the evolution of life and digital modelling techniques. In addition, the protocol we have developed for carrying out CFD simulations of communities of organisms is entirely novel and we hope other scientists will use this in their future research. |
| Sectors | Education Environment Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| Description | They were used in an online lecture on "Uncovering the Origin of Animals" that I delivered as part of the NHM's public short course on "Life Through Time: Six Moments in Evolution". A total of 42 people were registered for the short course in 2023 and were thus able to access a recording of the lecture. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
| Sector | Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
| Description | Quantifying Tiering of Marine Animal Forests Through Deep Time |
| Amount | £70,174 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | NE/X011526/1 |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2023 |
| End | 04/2024 |
| Description | The dawn of the Phanerozoic: non-bilaterian evolution and the nature of the Cambrian Explosion |
| Amount | £605,621 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | NE/W00786X/1 |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2022 |
| End | 09/2027 |
| Title | Ancient life and moving fluids |
| Description | Over 3.7 billion years of Earth history, life has evolved complex adaptations to help navigate and interact with the fluid environment. Consequently, fluid dynamics has become a powerful tool for studying ancient fossils, providing insights into the paleobiology and -ecology of extinct organisms from across the tree of life. In recent years, this approach has been extended to the Ediacara biota, an enigmatic assemblage of Neoproterozoic soft-bodied organisms that represent the first major radiation of macroscopic eukaryotes. Reconstructing the ways in which Ediacaran organisms interacted with the fluids has provided new insights into how these organisms fed, moved, and interacted within communities. In this paper, we provide an in-depth review of fluid physics aimed at paleobiologists, in which we dispel misconceptions related to the Reynolds number and associated flow conditions, and specify the governing equations of fluid dynamics. We then review recent advances in Ediacaran paleobiology resulting from the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). We provide a worked example and account of best practice in CFD analyses of fossils, including the first large eddy simulations (LES) performed on extinct organisms. Lastly, we identify key questions, barriers, and emerging techniques in fluid dynamics, which will not only allow us to better understand the earliest animal ecosystems, but also help develop new paleobiological tools for studying ancient life. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Influenced future protocols for CFD analyses. |
| URL | http://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.gmsbcc2jv |
| Title | Functional morphology of the Ediacaran organism Tribrachidium heraldicum |
| Description | Tribrachidium heraldicum is among the first large and structurally complex animals, appearing in the fossil record 550 million years ago. By using engineering software to simulate fluid flow around digital models of this organism we recreate details of how it lived, including how it fed and the likely functions of its bizarre anatomy. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.dr7sqvb65 |
| Title | Reconstructing the feeding ecology of Cambrian sponge reefs: The case for active suspension feeding in Archaeocyatha |
| Description | Sponge-grade Archaeocyatha were early Cambrian biomineralizing metazoans that constructed reefs globally. Despite decades of research, many facets of archaeocyath palaeobiology remain unclear, making it difficult to reconstruct the palaeoecology of Cambrian reef ecosystems. Of specific interest is how these organisms fed; previous experimental studies have suggested that archaeocyaths functioned as passive suspension feeders relying on ambient currents to transport nutrient-rich water into their central cavities. Here, we test this hypothesis using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of digital models of select archaeocyath species. Our results demonstrate that, given a range of plausible current velocities, there was very little fluid circulation through the skeleton, suggesting obligate passive suspension feeding was unlikely. Comparing our simulation data with exhalent velocities collected from extant sponges, we infer an active suspension feeding lifestyle for archaeocyaths. The combination of active suspension feeding and biomineralization in Archaeocyatha may have facilitated the creation of modern metazoan reef ecosystems. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.w3r2280xj |
| Title | The life and times of Pteridinium simplex |
| Description | Pteridinium simplex is an iconic erniettomorph taxon best known from late Ediacaran successions in South Australia, Russia, and Namibia. Despite nearly 100 years of study, there remain fundamental questions surrounding the paleobiology and -ecology of this organism, including it's life position relative the sediment-water interface, and how it fed and functioned within benthic communities. Here, we combine a re-description of specimens housed at the Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Frankfurt with field observations of fossiliferous surfaces to constrain the life habit of Pteridinium and gain insights into the character of benthic ecosystems shortly before the beginning of the Cambrian. We present paleontological and sedimentological evidence suggesting that Pteridinium was semi-infaunal and lived gregariously in aggregated communities, preferentially adopting an orientation with the long-axis perpendicular to the prevailing current direction. Using computational fluid dynamics simulations, we demonstrate that this life habit could plausibly have led to suspended food particles settling within the organism's central cavity. This supports interpretation of Pteridinium as a macroscopic suspension feeder that functioned similarly to the coeval erniettomorph Ernietta, emblematic of a broader paleoecological shift towards benthic suspension feeding strategies over the course of the latest Ediacaran. Lastly, we discuss how this new reconstruction of Pteridinium informs on its potential relationships with extant animal groups, and state a case for reconstructing Pteridinium as a colonial metazoan. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Provided digital models that will be used in planned future community-scale CFD simulations. |
| URL | http://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.0rxwdbs1g |