ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2015
Experimental taphonomy of Artemia reveals the role of endogenous microbes in mediating decay and fossilization.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
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Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed.
- Microbial decomposer diversity and metabolic function during the decomposition of brine shrimp carcasses in a saline lake.Microbiome · 2026Article
- Microbial dynamics and metabolic activity during fish decay under aerobic and anaerobic conditions: insights into microbial fossilization.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Experimental taphonomy of marine algae and cyanobacteria reveals the decoupling of morphological and chemical decay patterns.iScience · 2025Article
- Early evolvability in arthropod tagmosis exemplified by a new radiodont from the Burgess Shale.Royal Society open science · 2025Article
- Thermal taphonomy experiments challenge ultrastructural preservation in the Chengjiang yunnanozoans.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Taxon-specific redox conditions control fossilisation pathways.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Preservation and early evolution of scalidophoran ventral nerve cord.Science advances · 2025Article
- Kaolinite induces rapid authigenic mineralisation in unburied shrimps.Communications earth & environment · 2025Article
- Cellular structure of dinosaur scales reveals retention of reptile-type skin during the evolutionary transition to feathers.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Fossilized anuran soft tissues reveal a new taphonomic model for the Eocene Geiseltal Konservat-Lagerstätte, Germany.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The effects of clays on bacterial community composition during arthropod decay.Swiss journal of palaeontology · 2024Article
- Musculature of an Early Cambrian cycloneuralian animal.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Time-dependent microbial shifts during crayfish decomposition in freshwater and sediment under different environmental conditions.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Microbially mediated fossil concretions and their characterization by the latest methodologies: a review.Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Review
- The unbearable uncertainty of panarthropod relationships.Biology letters · 2023Article
- Internal anatomy of a fossilized embryonic stage of the Cambrian-Ordovician scalidophoranRoyal Society open science · 2022Article
- Probability-based preservational variations within the early Cambrian Chengjiang biota (China).PeerJ · 2022Article
- Article
- Elucidating biofilm diversity on water lily leaves through 16S rRNA amplicon analysis: Comparison of four DNA extraction kits.Applications in plant sciences · 2021Article
- Taphonomic experiments imply a possible link between the evolution of multicellularity and the fossilization potential of soft-bodied organisms.Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
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4 authors.
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Abstract
Exceptionally preserved fossils provide major insights into the evolutionary history of life. Microbial activity is thought to play a pivotal role in both the decay of organisms and the preservation of soft tissue in the fossil record, though this has been the subject of very little experimental investigation. To remedy this, we undertook an experimental study of the decay of the brine shrimp Artemia, examining the roles of autolysis, microbial activity, oxygen diffusion and reducing conditions. Our findings indicate that endogenous gut bacteria are the main factor controlling decay. Following gut wall rupture, but prior to cuticle failure, gut-derived microbes spread into the body cavity, consuming tissues and forming biofilms capable of mediating authigenic mineralization, that pseudomorph tissues and structures such as limbs and the haemocoel. These observations explain patterns observed in exceptionally preserved fossil arthropods. For example, guts are preserved relatively frequently, while preservation of other internal anatomy is rare. They also suggest that gut-derived microbes play a key role in the preservation of internal anatomy and that differential preservation between exceptional deposits might be because of factors that control autolysis and microbial activity. The findings also suggest that the evolution of a through gut and its bacterial microflora increased the potential for exceptional fossil preservation in bilaterians, providing one explanation for the extreme rarity of internal preservation in those animals that lack a through gut.
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