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群落中最常见的组成部分之一。该群的起源可以追溯到寒武纪，自奥陶纪以来，丰度和多样性急剧上升。尽管如此，对这一组的研究在地理和地层上都相当有限。为了填补这一空白，我们选择研究和汇编来自不同古大陆-冈瓦那(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)的多毛类化石数据。在这个项目中，我们打算将分类分析与沉积学和微相数据结合起来，重点研究奥陶纪-泥盆纪的沉积序列，特别是在记录了根本环境变化的地方，例如灭绝事件。了解地球历史上的这类事件将有助于我们深入了解进化和环境变化，而这些都是当今的关键问题。这种方法应该阐明化石eunicids在长时间跨度的生态扰动中的策略，并测试它们的面部依赖性。主要目的是整合和解释来自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了基本环境变化(如事件)的特定地层级别。

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.