Abstract
Deposits that preserve soft-bodied fossils are of fundamental importance in palaeontology because they provide much more complete data on ancient communities than does the normal shelly fossil record. Biofilms have long been recognized as playing an important role in the preservation of Konservat-Lagerstätten (i.e. conservation deposits, characterized by the quality of fossil preservation) (see Gall 2001). Seilacher et al. (1985) identified them as one of three major agents involved in promoting preservation, alongside stagnation and obrution (rapid burial). Biofilms are layers, a few mm thick, of spatially organized microbial cells within a matrix of exopolymeric substance (EPS), a glycocalyx secreted by the cells. Biofilms form the basis of microbial mats, i.e. interacting microbial communities consisting of phototrophic cyanobacteria, often with associated algae, fungi, protozoans, and heterotrophic bacteria, which produce extensive layered deposits in the geological record (stromatolites). Mats are normally stratified vertically downwards from aerobic to anaerobic in terms of the electron acceptors used in metabolism, and from phototrophic to chemotrophic.
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Briggs, D.E.G. (2003). The Role of Biofilms in the Fossilization of Non-Biomineralized Tissues. In: Krumbein, W.E., Paterson, D.M., Zavarzin, G.A. (eds) Fossil and Recent Biofilms. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0193-8_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0193-8_18
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