Survey of the Fossil Record of Neoproterozoic Eukaryotes

9400712有机腐烂和石化的诺尔过程对古生物记录施加了强有力的过滤。由于保存极为完好的化石保留了沉积岩中不常见的生物信息，它们在解释动植物进化方面发挥了关键作用。在试图了解前寒武纪生活的过程中，它们同样重要。我建议对三个保存极为完好的化石组合进行全面的系统、挖掘、古生态和生物地层学研究，这三个化石组合共同为真核生物的早期历史提供了重要的新线索：格陵兰约7.5亿年前的多彩系列；距今100-1100 Ma的汝阳群中国；以及在所有前寒武纪化石组合中保存最完好、最多样化的化石组合之一--中国南部的600-580 Ma的陡山沱组。在这些研究中收集的信息将有助于建立一个新的元古界真核生物数据库(Delta系统)，该数据库将同时作为分类学检索表和工具，探索辐射真核生物分类群和特征的环境和年龄分布。从实际意义上讲，这些数据将有助于不断发展的生物地层和古环境框架，事实证明，这对迅速扩大新元古代资源的勘探是有价值的。

9400712 Knoll Processes of organic decay and fossilization impose strong filters on the paleontological record. Because extraordinarily well-preserved fossils retain biological information not commonly available in sedimentary rocks, they have played a key role in the interpretation of plant and animal evolution. They are equally important in attempts to understand Precambrian life. I propose a comprehensive systematic, taphonomic, paleoecological, and biostratigraphic study of three exceptionally well-preserved fossil assemblages that collectively shed significant new light on the early history of eukaryotic organisms: the ca.750 million year old (Ma) Multicolored Series, Greenland; the 100-1100 Ma old Ruyang Group, China; and what is among the best preserved and most diverse of all Precambrian fossil assemblages, the 600-580 Ma old Doushantuo Formation, south China. Information gathered in these studies will contribute to a new data base (DELTA System) of Proterozoic Eukaryotes that will simultaneously serve as a taxonomic key and a tool for exploring the environmental and age distribution of radiating eukaryotic taxa and characters. In a practical vein, these data will contribute to a growing biostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental framework that is proving valuable in rapidly expanding exploration for Neoproterozoic resources.