Paleobiology of Itajaí Basin (Ediacaran? Santa Catarina): evolutionary and paleoecological implications

• Grant number: 16/01827-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: May 01, 2016
• End date: June 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Paleozoology
• Principal Investigator: Mírian Liza Alves Forancelli Pacheco
• Grantee: Bruno Becker Kerber
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Humanas e Biológicas (CCHB). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). Sorocaba , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 18/21886-0 - The rise of complex ecosystems: unraveling and comparing aspects of exceptional preservation between Itajaí (Ediacaran, Brazil) and Francevillian (Paleoproterozoic, Gabon) paleobiotas, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

In the Ediacaran, soft-body organisms and animals with biocalcifiedskeletons became part of the biosphere that stated some forms and ecologicalstructures that enunciated and evolved in the Phanerozoic ecosystems. The EdiacaranBiota has representatives compiled in diverse parts of the world, temporally stratified inthe Avalon, White Sea and Nama assemblages, each one with intrinsic evolutionaryand paleoecological and, sometimes, paleoenvironmental peculiarities. Earth'sgeological history has shown deep relationships between the patterns of evolution anddiversification of life and environmental changes. These issues can be investigated inthe depositional environments of Ediacaran fossils, being able to reveal synergisticeffects between paleoautoecology, paleosinecololy and paleoenvironment in theseassemblages. In this context, the Itajaí Basin, Santa Catarina, seems to be animportant geologic unit of South America, with paleontological implications that cancompose the synthesis of knowledge about the dawn of animal life and thestructuration of marine ecosystems. Its record presents fossils of megascopicorganisms compatible with the typical Ediacara Biota, besides fossils already attributedto the Cambrian, such as Choia and Chancelloria. If the presence of Cambrian fossilsin Ediacaran rocks were corroborated in the Itajaí Basin, this would imply in abiostratigraphic set back of ca. 40-50 Ma. for these taxons. The paleobiologicalimplications of sponges in the Ediacaran, for example, would be revealed in ecosystemengineering and possible environmental rearrangements arising from the activity ofthese organisms. Therefore, this project aims to: a) investigate the taxonomicalcomposition, as well as its variation in the Itajaí Basin; b) verify the evolutionary andpaleoecological moments of this unit; c) model the paleoenvironments of the fossils bymeans of taphonomical aspects and MISS morphology; and d) establish comparisonswith correlate unities and chronologies in Australia, England and Newfoundland, tobetter interpretation of the evolutionary context of Itajaí Biota. Therefore, in addition tothe classic observation analysis, we will use paleometrical techniques such, as Micro-CT, Raman Spectroscopy, X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), Scanning Electron Microscopycoupled with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), and SHRIMP zircon dating. Thedating will be realized by SHRIMP U/Pb radiometric analysis.

Scientific publications

(6)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BECKER-KERBER, BRUNO; GOMES PAIM, PAULO SERGIO; CHEMALE JUNIOR, FARID; GIRELLI, TIAGO JONATAN; ZUCATTI DA ROSA, ANA LUCIA; EL ALBANI, ABDERRAZAK; OSES, GABRIEL LADEIRA; PRADO, GUSTAVO M. E. M.; FIGUEIREDO, MILENE; AMARANTE SIMOES, LUIZ SERGIO; et al. The oldest record of Ediacaran macrofossils in Gondwana (similar to 563 Ma, Itajai Basin, Brazil). GONDWANA RESEARCH, v. 84, p. 211-228, AUG 2020. (16/01827-4, 18/21886-0)

GOMES, AMANDA L. S.; BECKER-KERBER, BRUNO; OSES, GABRIEL L.; PRADO, GUSTAVO; BECKER KERBER, PEDRO; DE BARROS, GABRIEL E. B.; GALANTE, DOUGLAS; RANGEL, ELIDIANE; BIDOLA, PIDASSA; HERZEN, JULIA; et al. Paleometry as a key tool to deal with paleobiological and astrobiological issues: some contributions and reflections on the Brazilian fossil record. International Journal of Astrobiology, v. 18, n. 6, p. 575-589, DEC 2019. (09/02312-4, 17/21584-1, 16/01827-4, 16/17219-3, 16/06114-6)

BECKER-KERBER, BRUNO; HORODYSKI, RODRIGO SCALISE; DEL MOURO, LUCAS; SEDORKO, DANIEL; LEHN, ILANA; SANCHEZ, DARIO FERREIRA; FOURNIER, JEROME; MAZURIER, ARNAUD; EL ALBANI, ABDERRAZAK. Devonian agglutinated polychaete tubes: all in all it's just another grain in the wall. PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, v. 288, n. 1955, JUL 28 2021. (16/01827-4, 18/21886-0)

PRADO, GUSTAVO; ARTHUZZI, JORGE C. L.; OSES, GABRIEL L.; CALLEFO, FLAVIA; MALDANIS, LARA; SUCERQUIA, PAULA; BECKER-KERBER, BRUNO; ROMERO, GUILHERME R.; QUIROZ-VALLE, FRANCY R.; GALANTE, DOUGLAS. Synchrotron radiation in palaeontological investigations: Examples from Brazilian fossils and its potential to South American palaeontology. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, v. 108, JUN 2021. (16/01827-4, 18/03364-7, 17/21584-1)

BECKER-KERBER, B.; ABD ELMOLA, A.; ZHURAVLEV, A.; GAUCHER, C.; SIMOES, M. G.; PRADO, G. M. E. M.; VINTANED, J. A. GAMEZ; FONTAINE, C.; LINO, L. M.; SANCHEZ, D. FERREIRA; et al. Clay templates in Ediacaran vendotaeniaceans: Implications for the taphonomy of carbonaceous fossils. GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA BULLETIN, v. 134, n. 5-6, p. 13-pg., 2022-05-01. (16/01827-4, 18/21886-0)

BECKER-KERBER, BRUNO; EL ALBANI, ABDERRAZAK; KONHAUSER, KURT; ABD ELMOLA, AHMED; FONTAINE, CLAUDE; PAIM, PAULO S. G.; MAZURIER, ARNAUD; PRADO, GUSTAVO M. E. M.; GALANTE, DOUGLAS; KERBER, PEDRO B.; et al. The role of volcanic-derived clays in the preservation of Ediacaran biota from the Itajai Basin (ca. 563 Ma, Brazil). SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, v. 11, n. 1, MAR 3 2021. (18/21886-0, 16/01827-4)