Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 9, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06229-7
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- Oxford-St Catherine's Brade-Natural Motion Scholarship
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Division Of Earth Sciences [1053247] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The rapid diversification of metazoans and their organisation in modern-style marine ecosystems during the Cambrian profoundly transformed the biosphere. What initially sparked this Cambrian explosion remains passionately debated, but the establishment of a coupling between pelagic and benthic realms, a key characteristic of modern-day oceans, might represent a primary ecological cause. By allowing the transfer of biomass and energy from the euphotic zone-the locus of primary production-to the sea floor, this biological pump would have boosted diversification within the emerging metazoan-dominated benthic communities. However, little is known about Cambrian pelagic organisms and their trophic interactions. Here we describe a filter-feeding Cambrian radiodont exhibiting morphological characters that likely enabled the capture of microplankton-sized particles, including large phytoplankton. This description of a large free-swimming suspension-feeder potentially engaged in primary consumption suggests a more direct involvement of nekton in the establishment of an oceanic pelagic-benthic coupling in the Cambrian.
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