Cryptic terrestrial fungus-like fossils of the early Ediacaran Period
| dc.contributor.author | Gan, Tian | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Luo, Taiyi | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Pang, Ke | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Zhou, Chuanming | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Zhou, Guanghong | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Wan, Bin | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Li, Gang | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Yi, Quiru | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Czaja, Andrew D. | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Xiao, Shuhai | en |
| dc.contributor.department | Geosciences | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2021-02-01T14:15:14Z | en |
| dc.date.available | 2021-02-01T14:15:14Z | en |
| dc.date.issued | 2021 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | The colonization of land by fungi had a significant impact on the terrestrial ecosystem and biogeochemical cycles on Earth surface systems. Although fungi may have diverged ~1500–900 million years ago (Ma) or even as early as 2400 Ma, it is uncertain when fungi first colonized the land. Here we report pyritized fungus-like microfossils preserved in the basal Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation (~635 Ma) in South China. These micro-organisms colonized and were preserved in cryptic karstic cavities formed via meteoric water dissolution related to deglacial isostatic rebound after the terminal Cryogenian snowball Earth event. They are interpreted as eukaryotes and probable fungi, thus providing direct fossil evidence for the colonization of land by fungi and offering a key constraint on fungal terrestrialization. | en |
| dc.description.sponsorship | This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41530210, 41873058, and 41921002), Natural Science Fund of Guizhou Province, China [JZ(2015)2009], Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB 26000000, QYZDJ-SSW-DQC009, and XDB18000000), and National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFC0603100). T.G. acknowledges financial support from China Scholarship Council. S.X. acknowledges support from the US National Science Foundation (EAR- 2021207). K.P. acknowledges support from the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. | en |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en |
| dc.identifier.doi | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-20975-1 | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10919/102142 | en |
| dc.identifier.volume | 12 | en |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.publisher | Nature Research | en |
| dc.rights | Attribution 4.0 International | en |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | en |
| dc.title | Cryptic terrestrial fungus-like fossils of the early Ediacaran Period | en |
| dc.title.serial | Nature Communications | en |
| dc.type | Article - Refereed | en |