Danise Silvia, Twitchett Richard J, Matts Katie
Centre for Research in Earth Sciences, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Plymouth University, Drake Circus, PL4 8AA Plymouth, UK.
Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 5BD London, UK.
Nat Commun. 2014 Sep 10;5:4789. doi: 10.1038/ncomms5789.
After the discovery of whale fall communities in modern oceans, it has been hypothesized that during the Mesozoic the carcasses of marine reptiles created similar habitats supporting long-lived and specialized animal communities. Here, we report a fully documented ichthyosaur fall community, from a Late Jurassic shelf setting, and reconstruct the ecological succession of its micro- and macrofauna. The early 'mobile-scavenger' and 'enrichment-opportunist' stages were not succeeded by a 'sulphophilic stage' characterized by chemosynthetic molluscs, but instead the bones were colonized by microbial mats that attracted echinoids and other mat-grazing invertebrates. Abundant cemented suspension feeders indicate a well-developed 'reef stage' with prolonged exposure and colonization of the bones prior to final burial, unlike in modern whale falls where organisms such as the ubiquitous bone-eating worm Osedax rapidly destroy the skeleton. Shallow-water ichthyosaur falls thus fulfilled similar ecological roles to shallow whale falls, and did not support specialized chemosynthetic communities.
在现代海洋中发现鲸落群落之后，有人提出假说，认为在中生代，海洋爬行动物的尸体形成了类似的栖息地，支撑着长寿且特化的动物群落。在此，我们报告了一个来自晚侏罗世陆架环境的、有充分记录的鱼龙落群落，并重建了其微型和大型动物群的生态演替过程。早期的“移动清道夫”和“机会富集”阶段之后，并没有出现以化学合成软体动物为特征的“嗜硫阶段”，相反，骨骼被微生物垫所占据，这些微生物垫吸引了海胆和其他以垫子为食的无脊椎动物。大量的固着悬浮生物表明存在一个发育良好的“礁阶段”，在最终埋葬之前，骨骼有长时间的暴露和定殖过程，这与现代鲸落不同，在现代鲸落中，诸如无处不在的食骨蠕虫奥氏多毛纲动物等生物会迅速破坏骨骼。因此，浅水鱼龙落与浅水鲸落发挥了相似的生态作用，并没有支撑特化的化学合成群落。
