Anchient jawed polychates: evolution and palaeogeography in the Lower Palaeozoic

多毛类蠕虫是当今海洋底栖无脊椎动物区系中最常见的组成部分之一。该类群起源于寒武纪，奥陶纪以来其丰度和分异度急剧上升。尽管如此，这一群体的研究在地理和地层上是相当有限的。为了填补这一空白，我们选择了研究和汇编来自不同古大陆的化石多毛类的数据-冈瓦纳（布拉格盆地，伊朗，阿根廷Precordillera），阿瓦隆尼亚（艾菲尔向斜）和波罗的海（爱沙尼亚）。在这个项目中，我们打算将分类分析与沉积学和微相数据相结合，并重点关注奥陶纪-泥盆纪内的沉积学序列，特别是记录了基本环境变化的地方，例如灭绝事件。了解地球历史上的这些事件将提供对进化和环境变化的见解，这是当今的关键问题。这种方法应阐明的战略化石eunicids在生态扰动在很长一段时间跨度，也测试他们的面部依赖。主要目的是整合和解释从不同古地理区域的奥陶纪到泥盆纪多毛类群落的分类分析中获得的数据。这些研究将与沉积学、地球化学（同位素研究）和微相分析相结合，并将特别侧重于记录基本环境变化（如事件）的特定地层水平。

Polychaete worms are one of the most common components of benthic invertebrate faunas in the present-day oceans. The origin of the group dates back to the Cambrian and the abundance and diversity was steeply rising since Ordovician. Despite of this fact the studies of this group are geographically and stratigraphically rather limited. To fill this gap, we have chosen to study and compile data on fossil polychaetes from various palaeocontinents – Gondwana (Prague Basin, Iran, Argentine Precordillera), Avalonia (Eifel synclines), and Baltica (Estonia). Within this project we intend to intergrade taxonomic analysis with sedimentological and microfacies data, and to focus on sedimentological successions within the Ordovician – Devonian, especially where fundamental environmental changes were recorded, e.g. extinction events. Understanding such events in Earth`s history will provide insights in evolutionary and environmental changes which are nowadays key issues. This approach should elucidate strategies of fossil eunicids during ecological perturbations over a long time-span and also test their facial dependence. The main goal is to integrate and interpret data gained from taxonomic analysis of Ordovician to Devonian polychaete communities from different palaeogeographic regions. These studies will be combined with sedimentological, geochemical (isotope studies) and microfacies analysis and will particularly focus on specific stratigraphic levels where fundamental environmental changes (such as events) were recorded.