Biological, preservational and evolutionary aspects of macro- and meiofaunal biota of the Yangtze Platform at the Precambrian-Cambrian transition

针对“寒武纪大爆发”，通过对早寒武世澄江浅水相大型动物群(毛天山-沙拉法群)的分析，研究后生动物的辐射作用。我们将集中于选定的成分，例如线虫和节肢动物之间的底栖生物假想的胃神经捕食者，比较形态和进化方面的研究，以及来自相似年龄和来源的新鲜岩性的材料，以获得额外的信息(例如，有机角质层)。此外，我们还计划从碳酸盐岩和磷岩相的沉积岩中勘探小型动物群化石(“Orsten”型动物群)，这些沉积岩的时代比中国已知的Lagerstätten年代更早或更久远。这种生态和面貌环境存在于扬子地台，并已知从晚前寒武纪继续到寒武纪，主要是黑色页岩和磷岩岩性。这些研究预计将得出“初级食物链成员”作为早期底栖生物群的重要但被忽视的组成部分，提供迄今未知的关于浅水生境(碳酸盐和磷酸盐泥相)后生动物早期演化的信息。

Opposing the "Cambrian explosion", the project aims to study the radiation of Metazoa by the analysis of the macrofauna (Maotianshan-Shalefauna) of shallow-water facies from early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätten. We will focus on selected components, such as benthic supposed gastroneuralian predators among Nemathelminthes and Arthropoda and on comparative-morphological and evolutionary aspects and on material from fresh lithologies of similar age and origin, in order to get additional (e.g. organic-cuticular) information. In addition we plan the exploration of meiofaunal fossils ("Orsten"-type faunas) from sedimentary rocks of carbonate and phosphorite facies and of contemporary or older age than the known Chinese lagerstätten. Such ecological and facial settings are present on the Yangtze Platform and are known to continue form the Late Precambrian into the Cambrian in predominantly black shale and phosphorite lithologies. These investigations are expected to yield "primary food chain members" as important, but neglected components of early benthic biota, providing hitherto unknown information on the early evolution of metazoans in shallow-water habitats (carbonate and phosphate mud facies).