Mapping of recent brachiopod microstructure: a tool for environmental studies

Publication date: Available online 23 November 2017 Source:Journal of Structural Biology Author(s): Facheng Ye, Gaia Crippa, Lucia Angiolini, Uwe Brand, GianCarlo Capitani, Maggie Cusack, Claudio Garbelli, Erika Griesshaber, Elizabeth Harper, Wolfgang Schmahl Shells of brachiopods are excellent archives for environmental reconstructions in the recent and distant past as their microstructure and geochemistry respond to climate and environmental forcings. We studied the morphology and size of the basic structural unit, the secondary layer fibre, of the shells of several extant brachiopod taxa to derive a model correlating microstructural patterns to environmental conditions. Twenty-one adult specimens of six recent brachiopod species adapted to different environmental conditions, from Antarctica, to New Zealand, to the Mediterranean Sea, were chosen for microstructural analysis using SEM, TEM and EBSD. We conclude that: 1) there is no significant difference in the shape and size of the fibres between ventral and dorsal valves, 2) there is an ontogenetic trend in the shape and size of the fibres, as they become larger, wider, and flatter with increasing age. This indicates that the fibrous layer produced in the later stages of growth, which is recommended by the literature to be the best material for geochemical analyses, has a different morphostructure and probably a lower organic content than that produced earlier in life. In two species of the same genus living in...
Source: Journal of Structural Biology - Category: Biology Source Type: research