{"id":18878,"date":"2017-10-24T02:53:37","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T18:53:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/media-release\/research-suggests-how-jurassic-ichthyosaurs-adapted-to-low-oxygen-levels\/"},"modified":"2022-12-06T09:20:31","modified_gmt":"2022-12-06T01:20:31","slug":"research-suggests-how-jurassic-ichthyosaurs-adapted-to-low-oxygen-levels","status":"publish","type":"media-release","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/media-release\/research-suggests-how-jurassic-ichthyosaurs-adapted-to-low-oxygen-levels\/","title":{"rendered":"Research suggests how Jurassic ichthyosaurs adapted to low oxygen levels"},"content":{"rendered":"

The presence of well-preserved biological material found in an Early Jurassic ichthyosaur vertebra suggests that fossils preserved through carbonate concretion could play a major role in understanding the biology of extinct species, as well as evolution, according to Curtin University research published in Scientific Reports<\/em>.<\/p>\n

An interdisciplinary research team led by organic geochemist John Curtin Distinguished Professor Kliti Grice, as part of an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Outstanding Research Award Fellowship, analysed a 182.7 million year old vertebra from an ichthyosaur \u2013 a large, prehistoric lung-breathing marine reptile, resembling the modern-day dolphin.<\/p>\n

Professor Grice explained that the sample, which was collected from a cement quarry in Germany, was fossilised in a way that preserved cholesterol, red blood cells and collagen fibres.<\/p>\n

\u201cA carbonate concretion encapsulated the Early Jurassic period vertebra, forming a tight seal that helped protect its tissue and cellular remains from full decomposition,\u201d Professor Grice said.<\/p>\n

Carbonate concretions are most commonly associated with organic matter-rich mudstones, such as black shales, and are formed under highly anoxic (low oxygen) conditions.<\/p>\n

Professor Grice and Chloe Plet, a PhD researcher at Curtin University, assessed the trabecular and cortical bones of the vertebra, where they discovered the presence of fossilised soft tissue.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/em>During our analyses of the sample, we discovered red blood cell structures that were up to five times smaller than those reported in most modern organisms,\u201d Professor Grice said.<\/p>\n

This discovery led the researchers to propose the small size of these blood cell structures was related to the ichthyosaurs evolutionary adaptation to environmental conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIchthyosaurs evolved during a time when atmospheric oxygen levels were continuously low over a period of 70 million years,\u201d Ms Plet said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe propose that small red blood cells were favourably produced by the species to provide efficient oxygen transport and diffusion. For example, modern-day mammals living at elevated altitudes with lower oxygen levels make small and abundant red blood cells.\u201d<\/p>\n

Professor Grice continued to explain that similar, small-sized red blood cells had been reported previously in 70 million year old dinosaur bones \u2013 creatures that would have also adapted to low oxygen levels during evolution.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/em>This research suggests that not only could carbonate concretions play a major role in the investigation of the palaeobiology of extinct species, but also an understanding of the evolutionary adaptation of life under different paleoenvironmental conditions,\u201d Professor Grice said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The full research paper, Palaeobiology of red and white blood cell-like structures, collagen and cholesterol in an ichthyosaur bone, has been published by Scientific Reports and can be found as open access at DOI:10.1038\/s41598-017-13873-4<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

This project was supported by an Australian Research Council (ARC) grant.<\/p>\n

The vertebra sample analysed by Professor Grice and Ms Plet was recovered from the Posidonia Shale Konservat Fossil Lagerst\u00e4tte in south-west Germany, with research co-author Professor Lorenz Schwark from University of Kiel, who is also an Adjunct Professor at Curtin University.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The presence of well-preserved biological material found in an Early Jurassic ichthyosaur vertebra suggests that fossils could play a major role in understanding the biology of extinct species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4275,"featured_media":10826,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-18878","media-release","type-media-release","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-and-global-community","category-research"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"","content":"","image":false},"related_courses":false,"credits":{"author":"","photographer":"","media":false},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/jurassic-ichthyosaur-dino-792x420-1.jpg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Curtin","last_name":"University","display_name":"Curtin University"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/18878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/media-release"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/18878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18878"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=18878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}