Quantcast
ZME Science
  • CoronavirusNEW
  • News
  • Environment
    • Climate
    • Animals
    • Renewable Energy
    • Eco tips
    • Environmental Issues
    • Green Living
  • Health
    • Alternative Medicine
    • Anatomy
    • Diseases
    • Genetics
    • Mind & Brain
    • Nutrition
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
    • Feature Post
    • Art
    • Great Pics
    • Design
    • Fossil Friday
    • AstroPicture
    • GeoPicture
    • Did you know?
    • Offbeat
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
Home Science Biology

Animals built reefs 550 million years ago

Mihai Andrei by Mihai Andrei
June 27, 2014
in Biology, Geology, News
Get more science news like this...

Join the ZME newsletter for amazing science news, features, and exclusive scoops. More than 40,000 subscribers can't be wrong.

   

These reefs were built by Cloudina ~548 million years ago, from the Nama Group, Namibia. Credit: Fred Bowyer

Corals have been around for hundreds of millions of years, but even before them, 550 million years ago, animals were building reefs. A new study has found that Cloudina, the first animals to have hard shells built reefs too. Cloudina lived towards the end of the Ediacaran period – the last geological period of the Proterozoic Eon, immediately preceding the Cambrian Period. They covered a wide geographical range and fossils are abundant in some areas of the world. During that time, life was already starting to boom, and more and more environmental niches were starting to be covered. Creatures were diversifying, and nature was “experimenting” new things.However, finding good samples of this age is extremely difficult – even when you’re dealing with hard shell marine animals.

The study reveals the fact that Cloudina attached themselves to fixed surfaces — and to each other — by producing natural cement composed of calcium carbonate, to form rigid structures. They were the first creatures to build reefs (non-living reefs). Fossil records indicate that all creatures had a soft body until them – they were the real road openers. These findings support the idea that environmental pressures caused species to develop new features and behaviors in order to survive – developing a hard shell turned out to be a great thing, as even today, 550 million years later, there are a myriad of hard shelled animals. It is believed that this feature initially develoed in order to protect animals from predators, but a reef provided safe access to nutrient-rich waters riddled with currents. Professor Rachel Wood, Professor of Carbonate GeoScience at the University of Edinburgh, who led the study, said:

“Modern reefs are major centres of biodiversity with sophisticated ecosystems. Animals like corals build reefs to defend against predators and competitors. We have found that animals were building reefs even before the evolution of complex animal life, suggesting that there must have been selective pressures in the Precambrian Period that we have yet to understand.”

Following the Ediacaran period came the Cambrian – where life really started to diversify. The rapid diversification of lifeforms in the Cambrian, known as the Cambrian explosion, produced the first representatives of all modern animal phyla.

Journal Reference: A. M. Penny, R. Wood, A. Curtis, F. Bowyer, R. Tostevin, K.- H. Hoffman. Ediacaran metazoan reefs from the Nama Group, Namibia. Science, 2014; 344 (6191): 1504 DOI: 10.1126/science.1253393

Tags: cambriancambrian explosionpaleontologyproterozoic
Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Andrei's background is in geophysics, and he's been fascinated by it ever since he was a child. Feeling that there is a gap between scientists and the general audience, he started ZME Science -- and the results are what you see today.

Follow ZME on social media

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Coronavirus
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
  • More

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Coronavirus
  • News
  • Environment
    • Climate
    • Animals
    • Renewable Energy
    • Eco tips
    • Environmental Issues
    • Green Living
  • Health
    • Alternative Medicine
    • Anatomy
    • Diseases
    • Genetics
    • Mind & Brain
    • Nutrition
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
    • Feature Post
    • Art
    • Great Pics
    • Design
    • Fossil Friday
    • AstroPicture
    • GeoPicture
    • Did you know?
    • Offbeat
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.