The Ediacaran microbiota and the survival of Snowball Earth conditions

Recently recovered assemblage of late Ediacaran cyanobacteria, phytoplankton and some microfossils of uncertain origin from the subsurface Wlodawa Formation on the Lublin Slope in Poland, allowed to extend their stratigraphic ranges and provided a new evidence that more species survived the Cryogenian Period. Numerous other species of unicellular eukaryotes (informally called acritarchs) and prokaryotes (also coenobial and colonial) have been documented in recent years to lived-over to the Ediacaran, enlarging the global list of biota surviving the Neoproterozoic icehouse intervals. This compelling record revives the issue how marine biota could coup with the catastrophic consequences imposed by the global glaciations and/or to what extent the environmental and climatic change reduced the life habitats. For this purpose, the metabolic processes, modes of life and ecologic habitats of the biota are inferred and analyzed. The reviewed biota are autotrophic and aerobic: benthic cyanobacteria, which were solitary and largely colonial, living in functionally complex communities of mat-builders, and planktic and/or facultative benthic eukaryotes, which reproduced also sexually and some had advanced life cycle with alternating vegetative and reproductive generations. The environmental requirements of these microorganisms are well-oxygenated open marine waters in the photic zone, and permanent seafloor substrate for benthic and periodic access to bottom sediment for some planktic species with sexual reproduction to rest the cyst. Such natural habitats must have been preserved throughout the Cryogenian Period, and in a substantial extent (environmental "critical mass") to sustain viable populations in the lineages that are represented by surviving species. Modern analogues of extraordinary adaptations of diverse biota to extreme conditions have their limitations when applied to the Cryogenian Period. Modern extreme environments (like those in Antarctica) with highly specialized organisms are maintained over relatively short time intervals (thousands of years) and may occasionally/periodically be in contact with the outside world to replenish their genetic stock. This is in a sharp contrast to the millions of years of environmental and genetic isolation invoked for the Cryogenian. The global fossil record, enlarged by recent new findings, is briefly reviewed to understand the impact of the Cryogenian glaciations on biodiversity and the rate of survival of microbiota. The Snowball Earth Hypothesis and its modified versions are discussed in pursuit of an environmentally plausible Earth System model consistent with the survival of biota. The radical version of the Snowball Earth Hypothesis is ruled out. An Earth System model with open marine water, ice-free shelf (at least seasonally) and access to the sea floor is obligatory for the Cryogenian in order to satisfy the living requirements of the biota that survived the period. The palaeobiological findings are entirely consistent with sedimentological findings that require open marine water and well-functioning hydrologic cycle. The Slushball Earth model accommodates more adequately these requirements. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.