Abstract
Based on previously published species data (228 species in over 18 phyla) and field sampling (114 species and 18406 individuals) in the Chengjiang-Haikou-Anning area, we analyzed quantitatively the paleocommunity composition and structure of the Cambrian Chengjiang biota (Cambrian Series 2, eastern Yunnan, China). Arthropods dominate the community both in species diversity (species: 37%) and in abundance (individuals: 51.8%). Priapulids (individuals: 22.6%) and brachiopods (individuals: 16.3%) follow in abundance rank. The arthropod Kunmingella douvillei (26.2%), the priapulid Cricocosmia jinning-ensis (15.4%), and the brachiopod Diandongia pista (11%) are the three most abundant species. Ecological analyses show that the community was dominated by epifaunal organisms (species: 63%, individuals: 68.4%) followed by infaunal organisms (species: 11.9%, individuals: 25.9%), nektobenthic organisms (species: 11.5%, individuals: 2.6%), and pelagic organisms (species: 5.3%, individuals: 3.1%). The diverse feeding strategies, dominated by suspension feeders (species: 35.6%, individuals: 26.1%) and hunter/scavengers (species: 31.1%, individuals: 40.4%), indicate the former existence of a complex food chain and intense competition. Epifaunal vagrant omnivores (28.2%), infaunal vagrant hunter/scavengers (19.8%), epifaunal sessile suspension feeders (17.7%), and epifaunal vagrant hunter/scavengers (15.3%) were the most abundant ecological groups, represented primarily by arthropods, poriferans, priapulids, and brachiopods. Ecological group analyses reveal that the early Cambrian Chengjiang biota is similar in community patterns and functional relations to modern biotas in shallow marine settings.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Zhu M Y, Babcock L E, Peng S C. Advances in Cambrian stratigraphy and paleontology: Integrating correlation techniques, paleobiology, taphonomy and paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Palaeoworld, 2006, 15: 217–222
Chen J Y. The Dawn of Animal World (in Chinese). Nanjing: Jiangsu Science and Technology Press, 2004. 366
Hou X G, Aldridge R J, Bergström J, et al. The Cambrian Fossils of Chengjiang, China: The Flowering of Early Animal Life. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Company, 2004. 233
Hou X G, Siveter D J, Aldridge R J, et al. Collective Behavior in an Early Cambrian Arthropod. Science, 2008, 322: 224
Hu S X, Steiner M, Zhu M Y, et al. Diverse pelagic predators from the Chengjiang Lagerstätte and the establishment of modern-style pelagic ecosystems in the Early Cambrian. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimat Palaeoecol, 2007, 254: 307–316
Shu D G. Cambrian explosion: Birth of tree of animals. Gondwana Res, 2008, 14: 219–240
Zhang W T, Hou X G. Preliminary notes on the occurrence of the unusual trilobite Naraoia in Asia (in Chinese with English abstract). Acta Palaeontol Sin, 1985, 24: 591–595
Zhu M Y, LI G X, Zhang J M, et al. Early Cambrian stratigraphy of East Yunnan, Southwestern China: A synthesis. Acta Palaeontol Sin, 2001, 40(Suppl): 4–39
Hu S X. Taphonomy and palaeoecology of the Early Cambrian Chengjiang biota from eastern Yunnan, China. Berl Paläobiol Abhand, 2005, 7: 1–197
Zhang X L, Shu D, Han J, et al. New sites of Chengjiang fossils: Rrucial windows on the Cambrian explosion. J Geol Soc, 2001, 158: 211–218
Zhu M Y, Zhang J M, Li G X. Sedimentary environments of the Early Cambrian Chengjiang biota: Sedimentology of the Yu’anshan Formation in Chengjiang County, Eastern Yunnan. Acta Palaeontol Sin, 2001, 40(Suppl): 80–105
Zhao F C, Caron J B, Hu S X, et al. Quantitative analysis of Taphofacies and Paleocommunities in the early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte. Palaios, 2009, 24: 826–839
Zhao F C, Hu S X, Caron J B, et al. Spatial variation in species diversity and composition of the early Cambrian Maotianshan Shale Biota: Taphonomic versus Ecological controls. Abstracts of the International Conference on the Cambrian Explosion. 2009. http://www.burgess-shale.info/abstract/f-zhao
Luo H L, Jiang Z W, Wu X C, et al. The Sinian-Cambrian boundary in eastern Yunnan, China (in Chinese with English abstract). Kunming: Peoples’ Publishing House of Yunnan, China, 1982. 265
Erdtmann B D, Steiner M. Special observation concerning the Sinian-Cambrian transition and its stratigraphic implications on the central and SW Yangtze Platform, China. Palaeoworld, 2001, 13: 52–65
Jin Y G, Wang H Y, Wang W. Palaeoecological aspect of branchiopods from Chiungchussu Formation of Early Cambrian age, Eastern Yunnan, China. Palaeoecol China, 1991, 1: 25–47
Pu X C, Zhou H D, Wang X L, et al. Cambrian Lithofacies, Paleogeography and Mineralization in South China (in Chinese). Beijing: Geological Publishing House, 1992. 191
Sun S, Fan D L, Chen H H, et al. Sedimentation of extensional basins in Platform regions of China (in Chinese with English abstract). Acta Sediment Sin, 1987, 5: 6–18
Sun S, Chen H H. Tempestites in the Lower Cambrian from eastern Yunnan (in Chinese). In: The Petroleum Geology Committee of Chinese Petroleum Society, ed. Research on Clastic Sedimentary Facies. Beijing: Petroleum Industry Press, 1988. 357–363
Conway Morris S. The community structure of the Middle Cambrian Phyllopod Bed (Burgess Shale). Palaeontology, 1986, 29: 423–467
Caron J B, Jackson D A. Paleoecology of the Greater Phyllopod Bed community, Burgess Shale. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimat Palaeoecol, 2008, 258: 222–256
Shu D G, Conway Morris S, Han J, et al. Primitive deuterostomes from the Chengjiang Lagerstätte (Lower Cambrian, China). Nature, 2001, 414: 419–424
Shu D G, Conway Morris S, Han J, et al. Ancestral echinoderms from the Chengjiang deposits of China. Nature, 2004, 430: 422–427
Shu D G, Luo H L, Conway Morris S, et al. Lower Cambrian vertebrates from south China. Nature, 1999, 402: 42–46
Shu D G. A paleontological perspective of vertebrate origin. Chin Sci Bull, 2003, 48: 725–735
Leslie S A, Babcock L E, Zhang W T. Community composition and taphonomic overprint of the Chengjiang biota (Early Cambrian, China). In: Repetski J, ed. Sixth North American Paleontological Convention Abstract of Papers. Paleontol Soc Spec Publ, 1996, 8: 237
Shu D G. On the Phylum Vetulicolia. Chin Sci Bull, 2005, 50: 2342–2354
Hou X G, Ramsköld L, Bergström J. Composition and preservation of the Chengjiang fauna—Lower Cambrian soft-bodied biota. Zool Scripta, 1991, 20: 395–411
Chen J Y, Huang D Y, Li C W. An Early Cambrian craniate-like chordate. Nature, 1999, 402: 518–522
Chen J Y, Huang D Y, Peng Q Q, et al. The first tunicate from the Early Cambrian of South China. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2003, 100: 8314–8318
Shu D G, Chen L, Han J, et al. An Early Cambrian tunicate from China. Nature, 2001, 411: 472–473
Shu D G, Conway Morris S, Han J, et al. Lower Cambrian vendobionts from China and Early diploblast evolution. Science, 2006, 312: 731–734
Magurran A E. Measuring Biological Diversity. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Company, 2004. 256
Whittaker R H. Dominance and diversity in land plant communities. Science, 1965, 147: 250–260
Han J, Shu D G, Zhang Z F, et al. Preliminary notes on soft-bodied fossil concentrations from the Early Cambrian Chengjiang. Chin Sci Bull, 2006, 51: 2482–2492
Brett C E, Seilacher A. Fossil Lagerstätten: A taphonomic consequence of single-event sedimentation, In: Einsele G, Ricken W, Seilacher A, eds. Cycles and Single-events in Stratigraphy. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1991. 283–297
Steiner M, Zhu M Y, Zhao Y L, et al. Lower Cambrian Burgess Shale-type fossil associations of South China. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimat Palaeoecol, 2005, 220: 129–152
Dornbos S Q, Chen J Y. Community palaeoecology of the early Cambrian Maotianshan Shale biota: Ecological dominance of priapulid worms. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimat Palaeoecol, 2008, 258: 200–212
Zhao F C, Zhu M Y. Quantitative comparison of the fossil assemblages between the single-event and background mudstones from the early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte, Yunnan (in Chinese with English abstract). Acta Palaeontol Sin, 2007, 46: 75–86
Simonetta A M, Emilio I. New animals from the Burgess Shale (Middle Cambrian) and their possible significance for the understanding of the Bilateria. Boll Zool, 1993, 60: 97–107
Briggs D E G, Erwin D H, Collier F J. The Fossils of the Burgess Shale. Washington D C: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994. 238
Janvier P. Vertebrate characters and the Cambrian vertebrates. Comptes Rendus Palevol, 2003, 2: 523–531
Chen J Y, Dzik J, Edgecombe G D, et al. A possible Early Cambrian chordate. Nature, 1995, 377: 720–722
Chen J Y, Zhou G Q. Biology of the Chengjiang fauna. Bull Nat Mus Nat Sci-Taichung, 1997, 10: 11–106
Shu D G, Conway Morris S, Han J, et al. Head and backbone of the Early Cambrian vertebrate Haikouichthys. Nature, 2003, 421: 526–529
Mallatt J, Chen J Y. Fossil sister group of Craniates: Predicted and found. J Morphol, 2003, 258: 1–31
Shu D G, Conway Morris S, Zhang X L. A Pikaia-like chordate from the Lower Cambrian of China. Nature, 1996, 384: 157–158
Shu D G, Conway Morris S, Zhang Z F, et al. A new species of Yunnanozoan with implications for deuterostome evolution. Science, 2003, 299: 1380–1384
Shu D G, Conway Morris S. Response to Comment on “a New Species of Yunnanozoon with Implications for Deuterostome Evolution”. Science, 2003, 300: 1372
Shu D G, Conway Morris S, Zhang Z F, et al. The earliest history of the deuterostomes: The importance of the Chengjiang Fossil-Lager-stätte. Proc R Soc B, 2010, 277: 165–174
Shu D G, Zhang X L, Chen L. Reinterpretation of Yunnanozoon as the earliest known hemichordate. Nature, 1996, 380: 428–430
Powell W G, Johnston P A, Collom C J. Geochemical evidence for oxygenated bottom waters during deposition of fossiliferous strata of the Burgess Shale Formation. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimat Palaeoecol, 2003, 201: 249–268
Seilacher A. Biomat-related lifestyles in the Precambrian. Palaios, 1999, 14: 86–93
Bottjer D J, Hagadorn J W, Dornbos S Q. The Cambrian substrate revolution. GSA Today, 2000, 10: 1–7
Dornbos S Q, Bottjer D J, Chen J Y. Paleoecology of benthic metazoans in the Early Cambrian Maotianshan Shale biota and the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale biota: Evidence for the Cambrian substrate revolution. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimat Palaeoecol, 2005, 220: 47–67
Caron J B. Taphonomy and community analysis of the Middle Cambrian Greater Phyllopod Bed, Burgess Shale. Doctoral Dissertation. Toronto: University of Toronto, 2004
Dunne J A, Williams R J, Martinez N D, et al. Compilation and network analyses of Cambrian food webs. PLoS Biol, 2008, 6: e102, doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0060102
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhao, F., Zhu, M. & Hu, S. Community structure and composition of the Cambrian Chengjiang biota. Sci. China Earth Sci. 53, 1784–1799 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-010-4087-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-010-4087-8