Highly resolved taphonomic variations within the Early Ordovician Fezouata Biota
The Fezouata Biota (Morocco) is a Burgess Shale-type (BST) assemblage that provides a wealth of information on Early Ordovician ecosystems. Much work has been done to compare the preservation of the Fezouata Biota to other BSTs. However, studies investigating preservation variations within the Fezouata Biota are rare. Here, we use probabilities to investigate the preservation of various ecological categories of Fezouata eumetazoans. Complex taphonomic processes and phylum-specific constraints have led to the better preservation of predators/scavengers in this biota. However, no differences in preservation are observed between vagile and sessile taxa. Importantly, Tremadocian taxa are better preserved than Floian ones. As such, this study highlights the gradual closure of the BST window of preservation in the Zagora region of Morocco and constitutes a benchmark for future palaeoecological and evolutionary studies on the Fezouata Biota.
Authors
- Bertrand Lefèbvre (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3803-9176)
- Yves Candela (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7800-6523)
- Corentin Gibert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6141-3832)
- Jonathan B. Antcliffe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8639-6998)
- Gaëtan J.-M. Potin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-1004-3727)
- Allison C. Daley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5369-5879)
- Farid Saleh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9165-985X)
- Lukáš Laibl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9049-3811)
- Pauline Guenser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8796-7796)
- Christophe Dupichaud (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-0915-8472)
- Nora Corthésy
- Enzo Birolini
- S. Michel
Institutions
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (FR)
- École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (FR)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
- National Museums Scotland (GB)
- Czech Academy of Sciences (CZ)
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geology (CZ)
- University of Lausanne (CH)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2024-09-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-71622-w
- Citations
- 9
- Primary Topic
- Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.39
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- Akademie Věd České Republiky