过去的海绵古生物学研究主要依据海绵矿化骨骼的化石记录，因而对无矿化骨骼的海绵所知甚少。本项目延续申请人博士期间的工作，将以碳酸盐岩材料为主、页岩材料为辅，对寒武纪角海绵类（一类无矿化骨骼海绵）化石展开研究。研究包含三项内容：1) 选择寒武纪早、中、晚期碳酸盐岩中的角海绵类化石各1–2例，对其保存方式、系统学和生态作用进行详细研究；2) 对前人积累的澄江生物群中的海绵化石标本进行重新观察，以检查其中是否存在被忽略的角海绵类化石；3) 综合文献综述与上述实际材料的研究结果，归纳寒武纪角海绵类的时空分布、多样性和生态特征。本研究将有助于填补此前对无矿化骨骼海绵化石研究的空白。尤其在动物的早期演化问题上，能1) 帮助确定普通海绵纲中无骨针支系与具骨针支系发生分异的时间；2) 丰富对寒武纪大爆发前后动物在礁相生态系统中的作用的认识；3) 为探索前寒武纪不具矿化骨骼的原始海绵的化石记录提供参考。

The previous paleontological studies of sponges focused on the fossil record of the mineralized skeletons, e.g. spicules, and little is known about the fossil non-biomineralized sponges. Succeeding the latest progresses on the research of keratose demosponge (a type of non-biomineralized sponge) fossils in carbonates, this project is aimed to reach a comprehensive understanding on Cambrian keratose demosponges based mainly on the carbonate fossil materials, with the fossils from siliciclastic facies as a supplement. This research contains three parts: 1) detailed case studies on a few selected examples of keratose demosponge fossils from the early, middle and late Cambrian carbonates; 2) a restudy of the collection of sponge fossils from the Chengjiang Biota; 3) summarizing the distribution, taphonomical preferences, systematics and palaeoecology of Cambrian keratose demosponges based on literature review and the studies listed in 1) and 2). The acquired new knowledge about the Cambrian keratose demosponges will 1) help to solve the evolutionary question when did the non-spicular demosponges diverge from their spicular sister group; 2) enrich our understanding on the palaeoecological role of metazoans in the reef systems through the Cambrian Explosion; 3) provide a valuable reference for the study of ancestral sponges and other basic metazoan fossils in the Precambrian.