This helps us to speculate about the habitats, life modes, & metabolism of some of the earliest eukaryotes known, and hopefully better understand the emergence of complex life on Earth. To read more, check out our article in @aunz.theconversation.com! ⚒️
@fossils.bsky.social identified over 12k fossils from a wide range of environments, & we found that eukaryotes were restricted to samples from oxygenated settings. Those with evidence for anoxic bottom waters had only prokaryotes, suggesting that the earliest fossil eukaryotes were benthic & aerobic
We used the geological record to address this gap in our understanding, by studying the oldest-known #eukaryote #fossils and their host rocks: single-celled microfossils with complex appendages from the 1.75-1.4 billion-year-old sedimentary successions of the Northern Territory, Australia
The innovation of the eukaryotic cell revolutionised the biosphere & transformed the planet, but the drivers behind this process remain debated. New paper out @natureportfolio.nature.com co-led by @fossils.bsky.social w/ Susannah Porter, Galen Halverson & Maggie Whelan @mcgillscience.bsky.social 🌎
The companies that drilled these cores decades ago couldn’t have known the scientific treasures inside.
Integrated palaeontological, sedimentological and geochemical analyses of ancient rocks from Australia show that early eukaryotes were largely restricted to oxygenated benthic habitats, probably posse...
Sad to miss it this year! It was a great time last year.
Thanks Brooke!
Leigh Anne identified over 12k fossils from a wide range of environments, and we show that eukaryotes were restricted to samples from oxygenated settings. Those with evidence for anoxic bottom waters had only prokaryotes, suggesting that the earliest fossil eukaryotes were aerobic and benthic
