Ecology and evolution of the earliest terrestrial animals

Rhynie chert是苏格兰早泥盆纪的地质遗址（大约有4.07亿年的历史），它保存了已知最古老的陆地生态系统，包括植物、动物、真菌、藻类和细菌。Rhynie燧石的化石保存质量令人惊讶，包括保存最完整的古生代陆地生态系统的化石遗骸，包括细胞和超微结构的细节。总之，这些化石组合为了解陆地上的早期生命提供了至关重要的见解。在过去的100年里，对Rhynie chert的研究主要集中在其陆地植物成分上，但我们对其动物和环境的理解仍然存在重大差距。在过去的几年中，新方法和分析技术（如共聚焦激光扫描显微镜）的成功应用促进了真菌研究的根本性突破，证明了真菌与系统中植物和动物元素之间相互作用的重要性。我们将采用最新的成像和分析技术，系统地调查Rhynie chert的动物群，以获得更全面的生物多样性图景。同时，我们将首次调查不同生物与其古环境之间相互作用的本质，以重建这个古生代陆地生态系统。项目目标：1)确定Rhynie chert无脊椎动物的全部生物多样性2)揭示这些动物的详细解剖结构并重建它们3)有助于我们对无脊椎动物早期陆地殖民的理解4)确定无脊椎动物与其相关植物和真菌之间的相互作用5)调查Rhynie chert的古环境和古生态项目方法：1)检查巨大的Rhynie chert薄剖面收集利用新的成像和分析技术，揭示了在伦敦自然历史博物馆、亨特博物馆、阿伯丁大学、牛津大学和明斯特大学收集的Rhynie chert的详细结构；4)对这些古生物及其群落进行三维重建；5)运用统计学等生态学研究方法对Rhynie燧石化石层进行古生态学研究

The Rhynie chert is an Early Devonian geological site in Scotland (circa 407 million-years old), which preserves the oldest known terrestrial ecosystem, including plants, animals, fungi, algae and bacteria. The quality of fossil preservation in the Rhynie chert is astonishing, encompassing the most intact fossilised remains from a Palaeozoic terrestrial ecosystem, including preservation of cellular and ultrastructural details. Together, this fossil assemblage provides crucial insights into early life on land. In the past 100 years, research on the Rhynie chert has largely focused on its land plant-based components, but there are still major gaps in our understanding of its fauna and environment. In the past few years, the successful application of new methods and analytical techniques (e.g. Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy) have prompted fundamental breakthroughs in fungal research, demonstrating the importance of interactions between fungi and the plant and animal elements of the system. We will employ the latest imaging and analytical techniques to systematically investigate the fauna of the Rhynie chert in order to gain a fuller picture of the biodiversity Also, for the first time we will investigate the nature of the interactions between different organisms and their palaeoenvironments, in order to reconstruct this Palaeozoic terrestrial ecosystem. Project aims:1) Determine the full biodiversity of the invertebrate fauna in the Rhynie chert2) Reveal detailed anatomical structures of these animals and reconstruct them3) Contribute to our understanding of early land colonisation by invertebrates4) Identify the interactions between invertebrate animals and their associated plants and fungi5) Investigate the palaeoenvironment and palaeoecology of the Rhynie chert Project methods:1) Examine the huge thin section collection of Rhynie chert material at the Natural History Museum in London, the Hunterian Museum, the University of Aberdeen, the University of Oxford and the University of Munster2) Process field collections of Rhynie chert at the Natural History Museum3) Using new imaging and analytical techniques to reveal the detailed structures of the organisms in the Rhynie chert, such as confocal laser scanning microscopy and synchrotron light source4) Carrying out 3D reconstruction of these ancient organisms and their community5) Using statistical and other ecological research methods to investigate the palaeoecology of the Rhynie chert fossil bed