TITLE:
The Role of Red Algae in Abrupt Appearance of Animals in the Early Cambrian on Siberian Platform
AUTHORS:
P. N. Kolosov
KEYWORDS:
Cyanobacteria; Rhodophyta; Symbios; Skeleton; Biodiversity; Neoproterozoic; Cambrian; Siberian
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.4 No.12B,
December
26,
2013
ABSTRACT: Calcified rock-forming marine filamented benthic micro- and macrophytes of Dzhelindia Kolosov, 1970 (Figure 1(а)) and Chaptchaica Kolosov, 1975 (Figure 1(b)) genera, thrived in Neoproterozoic (1000-541 million years ago) Siberia together with cyanobacteria. Their belonging to Rhodophyta is well-grounded. These and other Neoproterozoic rodofits, as well as Epiphyton Bornemann 1886 (Figure 1(c)) and other Early Cambrian (541-513 million years ago) benthic algae, oxygenating floor of epicontinental sea basin, formed conditions, favorable for the animals. In combination with other biotic, and such abiotic factors as: equatorial position and tectonic feature of Siberian platform; volcanism; transgression of the sea; diversity of ecologic niches, these conditions were prerequisites of skeleton and shell acquisition by Early Cambrian animals, and as a consequence, accelerated morphologic evolution, increased diversity of taxons of different groups of animals.