FROM A FOSSIL ASSEMBLAGE TO A PALEOECOLOGICAL COMMUNITY: Time, Organisms and Environment based on t

The Cambrian Period (542 to 488 Ma) marks the
beginning of an abundant fossil record, and the
Burgess Shale Biota was the first fully described
fossil assemblage that contains a relatively
complete picture of a benthic Cambrian community.
More Burgess Shale-type (BST) fossil assemblages
have been discovered since then and are ready to be
utilized to test hypotheses about the ecology of the
Cambrian explosion, which is the most important
event in the evolution of metazoans. This book
focuses on the Kaili Biota
(http://hdl.handle.net/1811/24227), an important
deposit bridging the stratigraphic gap between
Chengjiang Biota and Burgess Shale Biota. It allows
us to gain a more complete understanding of the
Cambrian life through the window of BST deposits.
The book is divided into four parts. Part 1 includes
stratigraphic background of Kaili Formation. Part 2
contains discussions on taphonomy. Part 3 provides
new observation for Cambrian paleoecology, including
animal-substrate relations, spawning habits, teiring
community, and faunal succession. Part 4 presents
hypotheses on arthropod, echinoderm evolution, and
the evolution of biosphere.