ArticleScientific reports2016
Involvement of microbial mats in early fossilization by decay delay and formation of impressions and replicas of vertebrates and invertebrates.
Article in Scientific reports, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 69 citations in OpenAlex.
- Microbial dynamics and metabolic activity during fish decay under aerobic and anaerobic conditions: insights into microbial fossilization.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Article
- Experimental taphonomy of marine algae and cyanobacteria reveals the decoupling of morphological and chemical decay patterns.iScience · 2025Article
- Taxon-specific redox conditions control fossilisation pathways.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Taphonomy of aquatic insects from the Crato Formation Lagerstätte (Aptian, Lower Cretaceous) under an actualistic look.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
- Microbially mediated fossil concretions and their characterization by the latest methodologies: a review.Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Review
- Biofilms as agents of Ediacara-style fossilization.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Helminth eggs from early cretaceous faeces.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Genome-centric resolution of novel microbial lineages in an excavated Centrosaurus dinosaur fossil bone from the Late Cretaceous of North America.Environmental microbiome · 2020Article
- Chemical characterization of pterosaur melanin challenges color inferences in extinct animals.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Exceptional coprolite association from the Early Cretaceous continental Lagerstätte of Las Hoyas, Cuenca, Spain.PloS one · 2018Article
- Biochemistry and adaptive colouration of an exceptionally preserved juvenile fossil sea turtle.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- The Effect Of microbial Mats In The Decay Of Anurans With Implications For Understanding Taphonomic Processes In The Fossil Record.Scientific reports · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Microbial mats have been hypothesized to improve the persistence and the preservation of organic remains during fossilization processes. We test this hypothesis with long-term experiments (up to 5.5 years) using invertebrate and vertebrate corpses. Once placed on mats, the microbial community coats the corpses and forms a three-dimensional sarcophagus composed of microbial cells and exopolymeric substances (EPS). This coverage provides a template for i) moulding superficial features, resulting in negative impressions, and ii) generating replicas. The impressions of fly setulae, fish scales and frog skin verrucae are shaped mainly by small cells in an EPS matrix. Microbes also replicate delicate structures such as the three successive layers that compose a fish eye. The sarcophagus protects the body integrity, allowing the persistence of inner organs such as the ovaries and digestive apparatus in flies, the swim bladder and muscles in fish, and the bone marrow in frog legs. This study brings strong experimental evidence to the idea that mats favour metazoan fossilization by moulding, replicating and delaying decay. Rapid burial has classically been invoked as a mechanism to explain exceptional preservation. However, mats may play a similar role during early fossilization as they can preserve complex features for a long time.
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