dc.contributor.author | Boyce, C. Kevin | |
dc.contributor.author | Hotton, Carol L. | |
dc.contributor.author | Fogel, Marilyn L. | |
dc.contributor.author | Cody, George D. | |
dc.contributor.author | Hazen, Robert M. | |
dc.contributor.author | Knoll, Andrew Herbert | |
dc.contributor.author | Hueber, Francis M. | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2009-09-11T18:32:47Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2007 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Boyce, C. Kevin, Carol L. Hotton, Marilyn L. Fogel, George D. Cody, Robert M. Hazen, Andrew H. Knoll, and Francis M. Hueber. 2007. Devonian landscape heterogeneity recorded by a giant fungus. Geology 35(5): 399-402. | en_US |
dc.identifier.issn | 0091-7613 | en_US |
dc.identifier.uri | http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:3293011 | |
dc.description.abstract | The enigmatic Paleozoic fossil Prototaxites Dawson 1859 consists of tree-like trunks as long as 8 m constructed of interwoven tubes <50 mm in diameter. Prototaxites specimens from five localities differ from contemporaneous vascular plants by exhibiting a carbon isotopic range, within and between localities, of as much as 13%0 delta C-13. Pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry highlights compositional differences between Prototaxites and co-occurring plant fossils and supports interpretation of isotopic distinctions as biological rather than diagenetic in origin. Such a large isotopic range is difficult to reconcile with an autotrophic metabolism, suggesting instead that, consistent with anatomy-based interpretation as a fungus, Prototaxites was a heterotroph that lived on isotopically heterogeneous substrates. Light isotopic values of Prototaxites approximate those of vascular plants from the same localities; in contrast, heavy extremes seen in the Lower Devonian appear to reflect consumption of primary producers with carbon-concentrating mechanisms, such as cryptobiotic soil crusts, or possibly bryophytes. Prototaxites biogeochemistry thus suggests that a biologically heterogeneous mosaic of primary producers characterized land surfaces well into the vascular plant era. | en_US |
dc.description.sponsorship | Organismic and Evolutionary Biology | en_US |
dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
dc.publisher | Geological Society of America | en_US |
dc.relation.isversionof | http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G23384A.1 | en_US |
dc.relation.hasversion | http://melts.geology.washington.edu/people/boyce_reprints/2007GeologyPrototaxites.pdf | en_US |
dash.license | META_ONLY | |
dc.subject | paleoecology | en_US |
dc.subject | paleobotany | en_US |
dc.subject | Paleozoic | en_US |
dc.subject | isotope geochemistry | en_US |
dc.subject | terrestrial ecosystems | en_US |
dc.subject | Prototaxites | en_US |
dc.title | Devonian Landscape Heterogeneity Recorded by a Giant Fungus | en_US |
dc.type | Journal Article | en_US |
dc.description.version | Version of Record | en_US |
dc.relation.journal | Geology | en_US |
dash.depositing.author | Knoll, Andrew Herbert | |
dash.embargo.until | 10000-01-01 | |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1130/G23384A.1 | * |
dash.contributor.affiliated | Knoll, Andrew | |