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View - Kowalewski, M. - Virginia Tech

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PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY PAPERS, V. 8, 2002TABLE 3—Increasing complexity in benthic trophic structures from the Archean to Recent.ArcheanPaleoproterozoic;MesoproterozoicNeoproterozoic Paleozoic Mesozoic;CenozoicCarnivoresCarnivoresCarnivoresPhotoendosymbiosisPhotoendosymbiosisHerbivores Herbivores HerbivoresProtist herbivores Detritovores Detritovores DetritovoresFleshy algae Fleshy algae Large algae Large algaeAlgal protists in matsAlgal protistsin matsAlgal protists onsubstrataAlgal protists(attached diatoms)AnoxygenicprokaryotematsProkaryotes includingcyanobacteria matsProkaryotesincludingcyanobacteriaProkaryotesincludingcyanobacteriaProkaryotesincludingcyanobacteriaTABLE 4—Increasing complexity of pelagic trophic structures from the Archean to Recent.ArcheanPaleoproterozoic;MesoproterozoicNeoproterozoic Paleozoic Mesozoic;CenozoicMega-nektonNektonNektonZooplankton Zooplankton ZooplanktonProtist herbivores Microherbivores Microherbivores MicroherbivoresProtist phytoplankton Protist phytoplankton ProtistphytoplanktonProtistphytoplanktonProkaryotesProkaryotes includingcyanobacteriaProkaryotes includingcyanobacteriaProkaryotesincludingcyanobacteriaProkaryotesincludingcyanobacteria(Schopf, 1992b). They built laminated mats, whichstabilized the substrate, and stromatolites domingupwards. Some of these contain body fossils ofbacteria, including some interpreted ascyanobacteria. The trophic structure of such matsand stromatolites might well have resembled matsand stromatolites existing today in hypersalineenvironments, but without advanced eukaryotessuch as diatoms and metazoans (Figs. 2, 3).Mesoproterozoic: 1.6 to 1.0 Ga.—Pelagictrophic structures seem closely similar to those ofthe Paleoproterozoic as far as fossils indicate, but76

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