近日,，中科院南京地質(zhì)古生物研究所澄江動物群和寒武紀大爆發(fā)研究取得新成果，該成果以封面文章形式發(fā)表在國際著名學術(shù)期刊《古代》（Palaios）上,，這也是Palaios首次發(fā)表中國學者的封面文章,。
該研究針對澄江動物群的埋藏機制和生態(tài)群落特征問題，打破傳統(tǒng)的化石采樣方法,，首次在國內(nèi)采用定量統(tǒng)計方法,，對澄江生物群埋藏的核心區(qū)域進行了系統(tǒng)采樣發(fā)掘。在獲得近1萬2千塊標本的基礎(chǔ)上,，對含化石地層沉積學和化石組合進行了定量化對比分析研究,，不僅定量論證了節(jié)肢動物是澄江動物群的優(yōu)勢類群，還識別了兩個重要的化石埋藏相,，證實了同一群落經(jīng)過不同埋藏過程是導致兩種埋藏相內(nèi)化石群落差異的主要原因,。該研究不僅為揭示寒武紀大爆發(fā)時期生物群落面貌和多樣性提供了新的證據(jù)，也為探討埋藏偏差對化石群落影響,，以及為開展不同埋藏相,、不同區(qū)域化石群對比研究提供的新研究思路。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
PALAIOS; December 2009; v. 24; no. 12; p. 826-839; DOI: 10.2110/palo.2009.p09-004r
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF TAPHOFACIES AND PALEOCOMMUNITIES IN THE EARLY CAMBRIAN CHENGJIANG LAGERST?TTE
FANGCHEN ZHAO1,2, JEAN-BERNARD CARON3, SHIXUE HU1,4 and MAOYAN ZHU*,1,5
1 State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing, 210008, China
2 Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
3 Department of Natural History–Palaeobiology, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2C6, Canada
4 Yunnan Institute of Geological Sciences, No. 87 Dongfeng Lane, Dongfeng Donglu, Kunming, 650051, China
Detailed sedimentological and quantitative taphonomical analyses of 11,974 fossil specimens from an early Cambrian (Stage 3) Chengjiang-type deposit near Haikou, Yunnan, reveals significant relationships between the original depositional environments and the composition and preservation of their respective fossil assemblages. In general, the Maotianshan Shale is characterized by superimposed couplets of laminated background and thin event mudstone layers representing two distinct taphofacies, A and B, respectively. Fossils in taphofacies A consist predominantly of indeterminate organic elements and fecal or algal strings with few, poorly preserved, soft-bodied animals. Among those, disarticulated arthropods account for 84.3% of specimens (mostly isolated valves of Kunmingella douvillei) and 51.4% of species. Poriferans represent 7.4% of specimens and 22.9% of species. Fossils in this taphofacies have undergone significant pre- or syn-burial decay and represent limited time-averaged assemblages exhibiting low species richness. By contrast, taphofacies B contains greater numbers of species and specimens and better preserved soft-bodied animals. Taphofacies B represents mostly smothered organisms by distal tempestites. Arthropods are also dominant in taphofacies B, both in terms of species richness (41%) and abundance of specimens (44%). Poriferans, priapulids, lobopods, and brachiopods exhibit similar low species richness (6–8% each), but poriferans and lobopods are numerically rare, at around 1% each, whereas priapulids and brachiopods make up 26% and 24% of specimens, respectively. The arthropod Kunmingella douvillei (19%), the priapulid Cricocosmia jinningensis (19%), and the brachiopod Diandongia pista (18%) are the most abundant species in taphofacies B. Fossil assemblages in taphofacies A and B have similar recurrent and abundant species and similar temporal trends in evenness and richness, but taphofacies A captures only a portion of the species that are preserved in taphofacies B. These results suggest that the fossil assemblages present in both taphofacies represent a single local community subjected to two different taphonomic processes and imply similar recurrent environmental conditions within the section studied.
